Urschel Windmill

Bertis Urschel built this windmill in 1939 to pump water with wind-power. The project to install the water pump never materialized. Urschel used the windmill to camouflage a boiler that he used to heat a local apartment complex.

The 45' structure still exhibits the mast, but there are no sails. The mill has four levels. The first level, a full basement, and the main floor constructed with cut stone that was quarried from the spring-fed Urschel Pond just behind the windmill. Remnant quarry walls where the stones were quarried are visible just behind the windmill. The upper two floors are frame construction and the exterior is covered with shingles that are hand-hewn oak. Urschel made these wooden shingles from timbers on land he owned in Arkansas. There are eight 6 over 6 double-hung windows in the building. The interior has been converted into apartments.

Although the windmill was never used for its original purpose, the structure is an excellent example of a Holland windmill construction. When I visited the mill in the summer of 1990, the apartments were vacant. They are rented by college students during the school year. (Hoy; McCarthy; Sahadi).

DIRECTIONS: Wood County. Center Township. In Bowling Green. From Wooster Street, take College Street, right on Clough Street at 722.