Northern Mich~Mash Preserve
~ WINDMILLS ~
(Emmet and Charlevoix Counties)
The design and compilation of the text and photos on this site are copyrighted 2017.
Most posted items will enlarge by "clicking" on them.
"Clicking" on some color highlighted words may access additional information.
Most posted items will enlarge by "clicking" on them.
"Clicking" on some color highlighted words may access additional information.
Please do not copy the photos on this site, many of which have been submitted by private individuals...
just come back and visit the site often to view the photos
just come back and visit the site often to view the photos
Beckon Road
Emmet County, Michigan
Emmet County, Michigan
Photo Above and in the Header submitted and described by Dennis Jessick: "Quite a story here. I can not believe that I have passed by this windmill a million times. I grew up here in my earlier years. My grandparents Ray and Ruby Beckon owned this house and associated barn (now gone) located on Beckon Road; named after my grandparents.
Three Photos Below: In 1936 the Emmet County Agriculture Extension Office
was active in participating in "landscaping" demonstrations on various properties around the county, like on the Ray Beckon Farm near Cross Village.
was active in participating in "landscaping" demonstrations on various properties around the county, like on the Ray Beckon Farm near Cross Village.
A windmill is considered a structure which converts wind power into rotational energy, through means of its vanes (also known as “sails” or “blades”). The windmill was used to mill grain as such in gristmills, but also to run pumps, turbines and other energy producing applications. The gears inside a windmill convey power from the rotary motion of the sails to some mechanical device.
A wind turbine is a windmill-like structure used specifically to produce electricity. A wind pump was used specifically to pump water, and has been used as such since the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan.
The American windmill was invented in 1854 by Daniel Halladay; mostly for lifting water from wells, although other American uses included grinding grain, sawing wood, and chopping hay.
The BEAUTY of windmills is brought to mind much like the windmills on the landscape of the Netherlands. The PRACTILITY of windmills often came in their locations on farmlands.
A wind turbine is a windmill-like structure used specifically to produce electricity. A wind pump was used specifically to pump water, and has been used as such since the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan.
The American windmill was invented in 1854 by Daniel Halladay; mostly for lifting water from wells, although other American uses included grinding grain, sawing wood, and chopping hay.
The BEAUTY of windmills is brought to mind much like the windmills on the landscape of the Netherlands. The PRACTILITY of windmills often came in their locations on farmlands.
Article Below: The Engineering Magazine credits American windmills as "a type quite different from the older forms original in Europe and the East... It [the windmill] is capable of giving vastly more power and has a much higher efficiency than the old mill, though for a stated power much smaller and lighter, and more 'business-like' in appearance."
Two Articles and Two Photos Below: As early as in The Petoskey Record for 1894 and 1895, The Aermotor Co. in Chicago was advertising locally for their windmill... telling: Aermotor Co. has reduced the cost of wind power, can furnish a better article for less money than other companies, makes pumping and geared, steel, galvanized-after-completeion windmills, Tilting and Mixed Steel Towers, Steel Buzz Saw Frames, Steel Feed Cutters and Feed Grinders.
Dennis Jessick captured in March 2022 a still-standing Aermotor Co. windmill on Division Road West of Larks Lake Road, Emmet County.
Dennis Jessick captured in March 2022 a still-standing Aermotor Co. windmill on Division Road West of Larks Lake Road, Emmet County.
Division Road west of Larks Lake Road
Emmet County, Michigan
(close-up of next photo below... Aermotor Co. Windmill)
Emmet County, Michigan
(close-up of next photo below... Aermotor Co. Windmill)
In 1888, only 24 windmills were sold by Aermotor Windmills Co. It's FIRST factory was built in 1890. By 1892 Aermotor sold 20,000 windmills, having now become a necessity of life in certain locations. The years brought improvements, and various other windmill associated products like pumps. The Aermotor Windmill Co. is still in operation today, making Aermotor Windmills in San Angelo, Texas, touting 100% made in America. For additional information and the HISTORY of the Aermotor Windmill Company click HERE.
Division Road west of Larks Lake Road
Emmet County, Michigan
Emmet County, Michigan
OTHER Local Windmills in no particular order...
Beckon Road east of Rugged Road
Emmet County, Michigan
Emmet County, Michigan
Eagle Beach Development
Sunset Boulevard, Alanson, Michigan
Sunset Boulevard, Alanson, Michigan
Braveheart Estate
Ely Road, Emmet County, Michigan
Ely Road, Emmet County, Michigan
Henry R. and Catherine Miller
Resort Township, Emmet County, Michigan
Henry and Catherine Miller purchased the farm 6 September 1881 from Charles and Mary Wawbinwike.
Resort Township, Emmet County, Michigan
Henry and Catherine Miller purchased the farm 6 September 1881 from Charles and Mary Wawbinwike.
Henry and Catherine Miller came to Resort Township from Ontario, Canada; settling into the existing structures, and growing their family. A large timber barn secured with wooden pins then was built in 1894, followed by a new two story frame house in 1895. Most of the building material was from their own land; locally milled logs and hand-hewn beams. The building location was near the middle of their 80 acres. The property remains with the family descendants. It is not known if the windmill still stands among surrounding trees.
Additional information about Henry and Catherine's farm, and also about the chosen professions of their
daughters Edith and Maud with their cousin Elizabeth Schneider, may be accessed by clicking HERE.
daughters Edith and Maud with their cousin Elizabeth Schneider, may be accessed by clicking HERE.
Frank Schmidt Springvale Farmstead Windmill
Hency Road, Petoskey, Michigan
(The Flint and Walling Windmill pumped water from about 1932 to about 1980.)
Hency Road, Petoskey, Michigan
(The Flint and Walling Windmill pumped water from about 1932 to about 1980.)
John Steffel Farm on Route #2
Corner of Alcan and East Mitchell (barn and windmill do not exist in 2022)
Petoskey, Michigan
Corner of Alcan and East Mitchell (barn and windmill do not exist in 2022)
Petoskey, Michigan
James Steffel Farm on Country Club Road
Petoskey, Michigan
Petoskey, Michigan
J. Winter Farm on Pickerel Lake Road
Petoskey, Michigan
Windmill installed in December 1935
Petoskey, Michigan
Windmill installed in December 1935
L. Winter Farm on Country Club Road
Petoskey, MIchigan
It appears the windmill tower no longer supports windmill blades, but perhaps serves as a tower for a satellite dish.
Petoskey, MIchigan
It appears the windmill tower no longer supports windmill blades, but perhaps serves as a tower for a satellite dish.
West Van Road north of North Larks Lake Road
Emmet County, Michigan
Emmet County, Michigan
Windmill Farm
Gully Road north of Island View Road, Emmet County, Michigan
Gully Road north of Island View Road, Emmet County, Michigan
~ WINDMILLS ~
(SLIDESHOW)
1930's to 1941
(SLIDESHOW)
1930's to 1941
Emmet County Agriculture Extension Office photo albums were submitted to the Little Traverse Historical Society. Most of the photos were taken before the Extension's "landscape planting demonstration, by O.I. Gregg." View the 1930's photos of farms with windmills in the slideshow below by clicking on PLAY in the upper left corner of the main photo.
Windmill HISTORY in Chronological Order...
1800s
Photo Below: Courtesy Photo in the Charlevoix Courier from the Charlevoix Historical Society: The added red dot draws attention to the windmill on the Chicago Club which just barely can be seen on th horizon. The text below the photo identifies many other Charlevoix landmarks from the late 1800s.
Articles Above and Right: By 1910-1911 windmills were a reportable item of interest; the value of the windmills on the farms for electric lights, and "many other services which electric power is capable of yielding." Reports of ownership of windmills... and those who owned them whether for installation or for needed repair.
Charles McVay was proud to own a Baker windmill. |
Article Below: The 2 March 1912 Petoskey Evening News praised the accessibility of the McRae windmill in helping to extinguish the fire in the McRae residence on Waukazoo Avenue, Petoskey. "Fortunately, the fire in the McRae residence, which called company No. 1 from the [additional] Kirkland blaze, was extinguished before the department arrived, or the fire fighters would have experienced considerable trouble. The blaze caught between the floors from overheated stove pipes, and was quenched by neighbors, who chopped into the floor and used liberal quants of water, pumped by the McRae windmill. The damage was slight, but would have been serious had it not been given prompt attention."
Side note: Anna Kirkland first was married to Dr. Little, the FIRST doctor in Petoskey, Michigan. Additional information/photos of Dr. Little and his wife Anna (later Anna Kirkland) may be accessed on another web site of this same web master by clicking HERE.
Side note: Anna Kirkland first was married to Dr. Little, the FIRST doctor in Petoskey, Michigan. Additional information/photos of Dr. Little and his wife Anna (later Anna Kirkland) may be accessed on another web site of this same web master by clicking HERE.
Article Below: Electricity on farms was recognized as a "very economical farm power," but not as cheap as windmill power. With windmill power only being an occasional source of power, its value was compared to that of the possibility of electricity on the farm.
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Articles Below: The windmill had become a selling feature like on the 80-acre farm for sale with a windmill with water piped to the house.
Article Below: By 1920 Holland was recognizing that windmills were "giving way to highly practical, but ugly steam and electric plants. Dutch technical men say the windmill is doomed."
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Articles Below: Windmill innovations, studies, and experiments were happening in the 1920's.
Windmills as selling features...
Advertisement Below: The Darling Farm was located where in 2022 the The Harbor Springs Municipal Airport is located. Mr. Lou Darling had passed away 24 January 1940; thus probably the reason for Mrs. Darling selling the articles, including a windmill tower, in the advertisement below. Additional information about the Darling Farm may be accessed by clicking HERE.
Article Below: Inventor, John B. Carver, of his own windmill, falls 35 feet from the windmill to his death.
Articles Below: "The picturesque Dutch windmills are fast passing from the landscape of the land of dikes. The Dutch millers are modernizing their mills ad turning to electricity." AND "The oldest windmill in America was carefully dismantled and shipped from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn, Michigan. It is of Dutch design and was built in 1633; originally used for grinding corn.
Two Articles Below: Jim Doherty lamented over the times with his grandfather's windmill in the 1930s.
The very idea of a windmill, and/or a replica of a windmill, served in the advertising of
Mackinaw City's "The Windmill Waffle Shop".
Mackinaw City's "The Windmill Waffle Shop".
~ Windmills Adding Advertising/Promotion Interest ~
Even Michigan Bell Telephone Company used Holland, Michigan's windmill and tulip festival as an advertising item of interest in 1941.
Michigan Bell Telephone Company had one of its main offices in Petoskey, Michigan.
Michigan Bell Telephone Company had one of its main offices in Petoskey, Michigan.
7 May 2022 Tulip Time in Holland, Michigan...
Still carrying on the tulip festival as advertise above in 1941
(4 photos below)
Still carrying on the tulip festival as advertise above in 1941
(4 photos below)
Promotion for the 1942 Petoskey Winter Sports Queen festivities showed a photo of
Queen Miss Ruth Ann Schomberg when she appeared in a 1929 parade on the
A. Fochtman Department Store float, in front of a large Dutch windmill.
Advertisement Below:
Even children's toy erector set was promoted by the interest in an All-Electric Erector Set
featuring a "build of a windmill, pump, pile driver etc. with an electric engine".
Even children's toy erector set was promoted by the interest in an All-Electric Erector Set
featuring a "build of a windmill, pump, pile driver etc. with an electric engine".
Bay View Windmill and Water Tower
In the beginning for Bay View's water supply, artesian wells and springs from various sources were accessed – Central Springs, Cold Springs, Scramlin Springs, Minnehaha Springs and Farnsworth Springs. Those sources were open to possible contamination so wells were drilled. Finally a reservoir was built at Mt. Pisgah Springs (where was this?) and the water piped to the various Bay View spots. In 1918, this source did not supply enough, so a well near the shore was used. In 1922 a new well was driven. Today [2019] most of Bay View's water is received from Petoskey.
Click HERE to access additional information about Bay View on this same web site.
Click HERE to access additional information about Bay View on this same web site.
Greenwood Cemetery Windmill
1898 >
1898 >
1948 Article Below: Greenwood Cemetery was praised as one of the most beautiful in the country with the explanation that "the cemetery has its own gravity-fed water supply, pumped by a windmill. The cemetery is too high for service from the city reservoir."
in May 2022, Karl Crawford, Superintendent of Greenwood Cemetery, Petoskey, Michigan, added immensely to the information about the years of origin of the cemetery's water supply, and its windmill. Karl Crawford located the following Cemetery Board minutes which reference water, and/or the windmill; as well as the one and only known photo of the cemetery windmill. The minutes make no mention of the windmill after 1906, although the 1948 article above stated: "The cemetery has its own gravity-fed water supply, pumped by a windmill. The cemetery is too high for service from the city reservoir." The windmill was still in the photo below taken in 1957. Karl Crawford knows, however, that the windmill was not there in 1961 when he began working at the cemetery, when his father Albert Crawford was then superintendent. It was in the 1960s that the Cemetery connected to the City water system when the City ran the line to their new water tower. Then, the old cemetery well was abandoned. A large concrete holding tank that the windmill pumped water into still existed with the tank supplying the waterlines throughout the Cemetery by gravity. The tank also was torn down during the 1960s.
26 March 1898 Cemetery Board meeting minutes (below) recorded in its FIRST annual report that a well had been dug at a depth of 150 feet, affording an abundant supply of water, while also noting the cost involved with the well.
26 March 1898 Cemetery Board meeting minutes (below) recorded in its FIRST annual report that a well had been dug at a depth of 150 feet, affording an abundant supply of water, while also noting the cost involved with the well.
9 June 1900 Cemetery Board meeting minutes (below) recorded that E.G. Ludlow and R.C. Ames were approved to buy windmill and land for the Cemetery and have same erect4ed on the grounds.
19 April 1901 Cemetery Board meeting minutes (below) recorded that a committee had been appointed to purchase a windmill, tanks and pipe and same put in place at as early a time as convenient. Also, the Board decided to go to the Cemetery and determine location for tanks, and grading some portions of ground.
19 June 1901 Cemetery Board meeting minutes (below) recorded that the newly installed windmill did not do satisfactory work and that the windmill needed to be examined and put in proper condition; payment not to be made until the windmill was satisfactorily working.
20 April 1906 Cemetery Board meeting minutes (below) recorded that the present windmill would continue to be used for the season and recommended that the tops of trees be cut so far as they interfere with the working of the windmill.
23 June 1906 Cemetery Board meeting minutes (below) recorded that it was decided to have a NEW windmill and tower to replace the present one, with tower to replace the present one, with tower not less than 40 feet. Mr. Ludlow and Mr. Shepard were appointed committee to purchase and install mill.
The 10 July 1907 Petoskey Evening News reported the Cemetery Board "decided to immediately supply a new pump with increased capacity for the cemetery water works, which already have a windmill and well."
1957 Photo Below: This only-known photo of the Cemetery windmill shows a little bit of the windmill, and a little bit of the tank behind the building, presently called the "well house." While the building is still there, it was modified in the 1970s.
Petoskey city residents were depending on gravity flow for their water system,
while rural folks depended largely on wind and windmills to keep the cisterns full.
while rural folks depended largely on wind and windmills to keep the cisterns full.
Article Below Left: Petoskey's Dr. Lilga's wife was visiting Holland, and allowed her letters home to be published in the Petoskey News Review, presenting an eye witness account of Holland and its "Windmills Disappearing".
Article Below Right: By 1963, The Netherlands were devising a "scheme" to keep Holland Windmills going.
Article Below Right: By 1963, The Netherlands were devising a "scheme" to keep Holland Windmills going.
Per a 6 May 1970 Petoskey News Review article titled "Holland Ready for 41st Tulip Festival:
"The idea of a tulip festival had its origin in 1927 when Miss Lida Rogers, a biology teacher at Holland High School -whose favorite flower was the rose - suggested that tulips be planted in profusion in the city as a summer attraction. The first festival was held in 1929. Holland, Michigan, was founded by a group of immigrants who left the Netherlands to escape religious persecution. The band was headed by Dr. Albertus Christian VanRaalte, a minister. The original settlers were farmers but today this bustling community of 25,000 has diversified industries, a large resort business and is still a center of a wealthy agricultural area. About 85 percent of Holland's residents were of Dutch ancestry when Miss Rogers came up with the tulip-planting idea. Today the community is still about 75 percent Dutch or of Dutch descent.... the real windmill, the Dezwaan, is located on a 36-acre island. It had been dismantled and shipped from the Netherlands in time for assembly for the 1968 festival." |
Photo Below: The Holland, Michigan, 1959 Tulip Time Festival featuring "the regions's many windmills as a landmark in the background" was being promoted. The Tulip Time Festival began in 1929, and is celebrating the 93rd year in 2022. For additional information about the festival click HERE.
1973 UPDATE on the Netherlands' Windmills
Petoskey's Jim Doherty tells his personal and local Windmill tales... as an energy producer
1973 Article Below: Local Petoskey area plumbing contractors, architects and builders throughout Northern Michigan celebrated the Kohler Company’s 100th anniversary which included several representatives of the Wisconsin Kohler Company. The company was founded in 1873 with its “early-day products of the foundry and machine shop operation including plow shares and an assortment of other farm tools and implements such as windmills, feed cutters and saw mills." Click HERE to access additional text/photos about the Kohler Company which played a part in the history of windmill production.
Article Below: Petoskey News Review's Fran Martin in her "Et Ceteras" column considered windmills as they figured in her own life and the history of windmills, while broaching the then [1974] recent local interest in windmills as an inexpensive source of energy.
In the 1970's and 1980's Petoskey's Martha Drake had a column in the local newspaper titled
"The Energy Crunch" reflecting on the use of windmills to generate electricity.
"The Energy Crunch" reflecting on the use of windmills to generate electricity.
Article Below: Beaver Island and Natural Wind Power?
Article Below: The Without windmill in Charlevoix connected to Top O'O Michigan Rural Electric Co. Ind.
Article Below: The new 105 foot tall windmill powers the Witthoeft home in Charlevoix.
Guest Commentary Below: Charlie MacInnis, 1985 public affairs director of Consumer Power Company's Big Rock Point nuclear power plant near Charlevoix in his guest commentary below reflected on the place of windmills in producing our nation's energy output. Of course, with his company position, MacInnis was promoting nuclear power stating, "We are all benefiting from this [nuclear power] shift away from oil. The U.S. Geologic Survey warns that the world 'has but a few decades to enjoy the convenience of crude oil as our energy fuel'... Clearly, we should diversify and try to develop all forms.... On the surface, solar devices and windmills promise an endless supply of power. But the supply is unreliable, dilute, and very expensive to obtain."
For additional information on this same web site about the 1997 decommissioning of Big Rock Point and the fact that the removal of spent fuel left in the Bay Shore area is a very real concern as recently as 7 March 2022, click HERE.
For additional information on this same web site about the 1997 decommissioning of Big Rock Point and the fact that the removal of spent fuel left in the Bay Shore area is a very real concern as recently as 7 March 2022, click HERE.
Article/Photos Below: Big Installations seem to Work Best...
Advertisement Below:
Still in 1999 a windmill is an advertising feature for selling a Heynig Road property for sale.
Still in 1999 a windmill is an advertising feature for selling a Heynig Road property for sale.
Windmills Draw Fire in Resort Township
2000
2000
Windmills in Bay Township
2001
2001
Windmills in Mackinaw Village
2001
2001
Wind TURBINE Issues
2002
2002
Turbine Troubles
2002
2002
Reviving Windmill Skills and Preserving Windmill History
2004
2004
Getting Serious about Energy Calls for Strong Leadership
2006 (2022 with Putin Invading Ukraine)
2006 (2022 with Putin Invading Ukraine)
Quoted from 2006 article below: “From solar power, to windmills, to today’s hybrid cars, nothing seems to have caught on sufficiently to force us [or the rest of the World] to change our oil consuming ways…. Americans have always responded to major threats and challenges. Properly framed, they could be made to understand this threat as the greatest challenge the nation has ever faced. To become energy independent and no longer rely on foreign oil would be like depriving Dracula of his blood supply; he would shrivel up and die.”
So in March 2022, in the middle of a Russian Invasion of Ukraine, should the American people be wanting to "Build Back Better" or "Put it back the way it was" in 2020, when the U.S. was finally "energy independent?" The winds will blow where they will...
So in March 2022, in the middle of a Russian Invasion of Ukraine, should the American people be wanting to "Build Back Better" or "Put it back the way it was" in 2020, when the U.S. was finally "energy independent?" The winds will blow where they will...
Must Remove Windmill DISPLAY
2007
Andrew "J" Spencley who was known as "The Windmill Man" of McKInley Township passed away 22 July 2014.
2007
Andrew "J" Spencley who was known as "The Windmill Man" of McKInley Township passed away 22 July 2014.
Windmill Restored to Preserve Family History
2007
2007
Miniature Windmill
2014
Off Alcan Drive, Petoskey, Michigan
(Emmet County)
2014
Off Alcan Drive, Petoskey, Michigan
(Emmet County)
Below 1 July 2014 ~ Petoskey News Review's Good Life magazine on cover and pages 16-17: On his Alcan Road property, Gerould's "track winds over two bridges, around a large pond and fenced-in garden are of fruit trees and berry bushes. Along the track Gerould erected a miniature WINDMILL which, he said, generates a bubbler in the bottom of the pond to aerate the water."
Gerould also was instrumental in creating Petoskey's miniature train creation which Ernest Hemingway Mainland spurred interest. With the help of others, Mainland and Gerould recreated a miniature replica of the 1913 Petoskey G.R. & I. Railroad within the framework of Petoskey's environment. The railroad project can be accessed on this same Northern Mich~Mash Preserve web site by clicking HERE, and then scrolling way toward the bottom of the Railroad web page.
Gerould also was instrumental in creating Petoskey's miniature train creation which Ernest Hemingway Mainland spurred interest. With the help of others, Mainland and Gerould recreated a miniature replica of the 1913 Petoskey G.R. & I. Railroad within the framework of Petoskey's environment. The railroad project can be accessed on this same Northern Mich~Mash Preserve web site by clicking HERE, and then scrolling way toward the bottom of the Railroad web page.
In 2014, Northern Michigan Antique Flywheelers give access to groundwater pumped by a windmill
on the their grounds between Walloon Lake and Boyne Falls, Michigan on U.S. 131.
The Flywheelers web page can be access on this Northern Mich~Mash Preserve's web master's
Walloon Lake Wanderings web site by clicking HERE
on the their grounds between Walloon Lake and Boyne Falls, Michigan on U.S. 131.
The Flywheelers web page can be access on this Northern Mich~Mash Preserve's web master's
Walloon Lake Wanderings web site by clicking HERE
Two Photos Below:
In the village of Boyne Falls, Michigan, on 8 June 2022,
(Charlevoix County)
two windmills were very obvious in residential yards; one larger, one smaller...
both inoperable so more decorative, and preserving the past.
In the village of Boyne Falls, Michigan, on 8 June 2022,
(Charlevoix County)
two windmills were very obvious in residential yards; one larger, one smaller...
both inoperable so more decorative, and preserving the past.
Jensen and Sarasin Family Farms Windmills
2023
On Jensen Road near "The Foot" at Walloon Lake
(Charlevoix County)
2023
On Jensen Road near "The Foot" at Walloon Lake
(Charlevoix County)
Dawn Sarasin, 2023 owner of the Jensen Family Farm told history of the still standing Jensen Family Farm Windmill.
"The windmill was erected in 1916 when grandpa August "Augie" Jensen bought the farm or it could have been erected 1917 or 1918 which was the year that he and grandma Gladys (Weaver) Jensen got married. Augie and Gladys' daughter Ida Mae Jensen who was born at the farm, married my father Joe Sarasin, and we moved away. So, I am not sure, however, what year the windmill was not operational as we were not at the farm. We made our home in many places, but after Joe retired from the Navy in 1972, we moved home; and the windmill was not working. My parents had the windmill reinforced with being chained up; so that the windmill blades do not spin around, but the little fin will move around... and the windmill is still solid... Gladys often stated about couples pondering 'getting married' that the man needs to get the birdhouse before he gets the bird" which meant in Gladys' and Augie's instance, that Augie built the two-story part of this house onto the single story before they married. The original house now is the kitchen. Later Augie added a front sitting room. Then on the back he added a bathroom, and created an entry room as well, which includes the cellar door, the dryer and places for hanging coats, placing shoes and boots, all near the back door!"~ Dawn Sarasin
Photos Below: This Jensen Farm now is owned and maintained by Jensen Family descendant Dawn Sarasin.
"The windmill was erected in 1916 when grandpa August "Augie" Jensen bought the farm or it could have been erected 1917 or 1918 which was the year that he and grandma Gladys (Weaver) Jensen got married. Augie and Gladys' daughter Ida Mae Jensen who was born at the farm, married my father Joe Sarasin, and we moved away. So, I am not sure, however, what year the windmill was not operational as we were not at the farm. We made our home in many places, but after Joe retired from the Navy in 1972, we moved home; and the windmill was not working. My parents had the windmill reinforced with being chained up; so that the windmill blades do not spin around, but the little fin will move around... and the windmill is still solid... Gladys often stated about couples pondering 'getting married' that the man needs to get the birdhouse before he gets the bird" which meant in Gladys' and Augie's instance, that Augie built the two-story part of this house onto the single story before they married. The original house now is the kitchen. Later Augie added a front sitting room. Then on the back he added a bathroom, and created an entry room as well, which includes the cellar door, the dryer and places for hanging coats, placing shoes and boots, all near the back door!"~ Dawn Sarasin
Photos Below: This Jensen Farm now is owned and maintained by Jensen Family descendant Dawn Sarasin.
Photo Below: Submitted by Dawn Sarasin from a family book compiled by her cousin Larry Jensen.
This is the same farmhouse, and windmill, as in the photos above of the Jensen Farm Country Retreat.
This is the same farmhouse, and windmill, as in the photos above of the Jensen Farm Country Retreat.
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1901 homesteaded land of ancestor Peter Jensen
Just down Jensen Road from the Jensen/Sarasin Family Farm in above photos is
the original 1901 homesteaded land of ancestor Peter Jensen who improved the land,
and added the windmill that still stands near the house as in the photos below.
Now (2023) the farmstead is owned by Mitchell and Kim Matthews.
Just down Jensen Road from the Jensen/Sarasin Family Farm in above photos is
the original 1901 homesteaded land of ancestor Peter Jensen who improved the land,
and added the windmill that still stands near the house as in the photos below.
Now (2023) the farmstead is owned by Mitchell and Kim Matthews.
Photo Below: Peter and Emmele Jensen
More information about Peter and Emmele can be accessed by clicking HERE.
More information about Peter and Emmele can be accessed by clicking HERE.
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c
Click HERE for additional information about the Jenson Farms.
Mackinaw City Wind Power Project
Click HERE for additional information about Mackinaw Power.
Click HERE for additional information about Mackinaw Power.
Off the corner of Trails End and Windmill Lane on Mackinaw City's waste water plant,
stand two wind turbines, each standing at 230 feet high with three 85 foot blades.
stand two wind turbines, each standing at 230 feet high with three 85 foot blades.