Shattuck Windmill Museum and Park

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

The Shattuck Windmill Museum and Park opened in 1994 and offers a collection of 53 rare and restored windmills fro nearby homesteads dating from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s. The site sits on about 4 acres, and also has a wind generator, a half-dugout of local caliche rock that has been reconstructed, and a 1900 1.5-story homestead house that is furnished as it would've looked in 1900. Visitors can walk or drive past the windmills at any time and there is a reconstructed local mercantile business from 1904, the George Shultz General Merchandise Store, that is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m and offers historically-themed items for sale. Group tours are available and the park is free to visit and open year-round.

Images

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The kind of windmills used in Oklahoma and elsewhere in the Great Plains were primarily windpumps. In 1854, Daniel Halladay invented the self-regulating farm windpump. At the 1954 New York State Fair, it was "awarded the highest Premium ... for the most valuable newly invented machine for the farmer." These types of windmills were used primarily to pump water from farm wells for cattle and other livestock. They were originally made of wood. However, steel blades and steel towers eventually replaced wood. They featured several blades so that they would turn slowly with considerable torque. Arguably, this type of windmill is one of the inventions that allowed for the development of the American West. At their peak in 1930, there were some 600,000 in use. After the advent of electric pumps, these types of windmills weren't needed as much.

The Shattuck Windmill Museum and Park features dozens of windmills, no two of which are alike. They range from a 5-foot "Star Zephyr" to an 18-foot "Samson." Some feature solid wooden wheels, others have wooden wheels that fold, and others are steel. All of them are in working order, fully functional, and spinning away in the high Oklahoma winds. All of them have pumped and lifted water to provide it for homesteaders and ranchers.

Also on the site are a dugout sod house and a homestead that are furnished to period standards. Because many of the settlers initially lacked trees for lumber, they built sod houses and lived in them for one or two years or more. The museum is free to visit, and tours are available.

Sources

Windmill Museum & Park, Town of Shattuck, Oklahoma. Accessed July 3rd 2020. http://www.shattuckok.com/WindmillPark.html.

Shattuck Windmill Museum - Shattuck, Oklahoma, Atlas Obscura. Accessed July 3rd 2020. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shattuck-windmill-museum.

Shattuck Windmill Museum, Accessed July 3rd 2020. http://www.shattuckwindmillmuseum.org/.

Shattuck Windmill Museum and Park, Oklahoma Agritourism - Oklahoma's Growing Adventure. Accessed July 3rd 2020. http://oklahomaagritourism.com/producer/shattuck-windmill-museum-and-park.

Clements, Elizabeth. Historic Turns in The Windmill City, FermiNews. February 14th 2003. Accessed July 3rd 2020. https://www.fnal.gov/pub/ferminews/ferminews03-02-14/p4.html.