SENECA FALLS — Longtime residents of the Waterloo and Seneca Falls area likely remember the iconic windmill on the south side of Routes 5&20. The wooden structure, a one-third-size replica of a Dutch windmill, was placed along the roadside in 1928.
It stood for several decades until falling into disrepair in the late 1990s, its future in doubt. However, it is being given new life and a fresh look, thanks to Bill Lutz, owner of Waterloo Container Co. on Route 414. Waterloo Container now owns the windmill property, and Dan Buck is its property manager.
Lutz and Buck, both of whom grew up in the Waterloo-Seneca Falls area, not only wanted to preserve the windmill, but rebuild and restore it with modern technology and craftsmanship.
“The goal is to preserve a piece of history in the community that has been a landmark for almost a hundred years,” Buck said.
“The blades were not functioning when I bought it,” Lutz added. “They were rebuilt to a degree by the Sesslers in the 1980s, who added treated wood blades, but the blades were not turning.”
Lutz and Buck went to work researching how to use modern technology to get the blades moving again while preserving the historic nature of the windmill. They want to get the blades, now detached from the building, spinning and lighted.
“We made contact with a Kansas firm that builds Ferris wheels called Chance Rides to come up with a system for the blades moving and being lit,” Lutz said.
They have hooked up with Jenkins Slate Masters of Grove City, Pa., for installation of a new slate roof. The interior has been gutted and new electrical wiring and plumbing installed. Modern amenities abound inside the building.
Lutz said they are working with Vance Metal Fabricators in Geneva to craft new aluminum blades.
“The roof has been a challenge,” Buck noted. “There’s an expert in slate roofs from the Ukraine working on the project, and he’s been great.”
New windows and the outside walkway are part of the project, which Lutz says is costing him a “considerable” amount of money. He said the new roof alone will cost about $80,000.
Buck’s construction background has been valuable in overseeing the project.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime project, and it’s an honor to work on it,” he said. “It has a proud history, and it’s great to restore it.”
Lutz said he hopes the restoration can be completed by next spring.
“It been a fun project. I just wish I could have started it sooner,” Lutz said, adding that he’s confident the public will like the finished product.
Windmill history
According to accounts from the late Walt Gable, Seneca County historian for two decades until his death in 2023, Roscoe Kean bought the property on Routes 5&20 in 1926 and built 15 tourist cottages along the north side of the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. Hoping to take advantage of growing automobile sales and travel of the 1920s, he installed eight gasoline pumps on the roadside, with a restaurant and gift shop to the east.
Called an innovative dreamer by some, Kean planned to put up a windmill to welcome visitors to “The Windmill Tourist Camp.”
In 1928-29, the windmill was constructed. It was built to one-third scale, with the body of the windmill painted green and the blades given a cream color.
The gas pumps were in front of the windmill, selling for 10 to 12 cents a gallon. The cabins could be rented for $1 a night. The windmill was heated by a wood stove, with a chimney running to the roof.
The back half of the windmill was divided into men’s and women’s restrooms and showers. To provide water for the showers and toilets, Kean rigged up a ring gear set from a Model T Ford and pumped water from the canal to a cistern on the second floor of the windmill. Kean also built a pottery and souvenir shop east of the windmill.
In 1942, Kean sold the windmill, restaurant and cabins to Helen Antoniak and Robert and Mary Ireland. Kean went to work as a civil engineer at Evans Chemetics in Waterloo, making chemicals and pesticides used by the U.S. Army during World War II.
Antoniak and the Irelands sold the property to Lee and Hazel Park, and the Parks sold it to Mario and Mary Riani in November 1955. The Rianis sold the cabins and built a new motel, moving the motel offices from the windmill to their home adjacent to the motel. The cabins were moved to other locations.
The windmill eventually closed and remained vacant until the Western Region Off-Track Betting organization leased the property from 1973-79. OTB used the windmill for storage and used a drawing of it as the logo for the Seneca County OTB betting parlor.
On June 13, 1980, the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce raised roughly $39,000 through a community campaign to buy the windmill and 120 feet of road frontage. Major contributors to the purchase were Goulds Pumps and Sylvania of Seneca Falls. The Chamber renovated the windmill building as its offices, installing a cross-beam to support the second floor, and putting in new circular interior stairs and an external stairway and balcony.
The new Chamber offices opened in October 1980. The late Richard Compo was executive director of the Chamber at the time. He said the windmill was bought “because it is a reference point for people within the area and will give the Chamber a new image. We are preserving a landmark.”
During Christmas seasons, the Chamber installed lights on the blades.
When built in 1928, the 20-foot windmill blades rotated on a steel shaft turned by an electric motor with a free-wheeling clutch or brake. The clutch allowed the blades to turn clockwise with the wind. If the wind got too strong, the clutch would switch and the blades would turn counterclockwise. Later, because of liability concerns, the blades were adjusted so they did not turn.
In April 1991, at a cost of $3,500, a new set of 16-foot blades was installed. The Chamber planned to move its offices from the windmill to a new brick building on the canal side of the property. That move was made in December 1999, raising the question of the future of the windmill. With demolition a possibility to create more parking, the Sessler family of Waterloo stepped in.
Barbara Park Sessler was the daughter of Lee and Hazel Park, one-time owners of the windmill. They donated money to preserve the windmill, made upgrades, and renamed it the Barbara Park Sessler Visitor Center, still welcoming tourists as Kean once did.
Lutz bought the property for $185,000 in January 2017. The Chamber moved to downtown Waterloo, vacating the brick building and windmill.
Full article: https://www.fltimes.com/news/iconic-seneca-falls-windmill-being-restored/article_2d958606-7054-11ef-b26b-078b214223bd.html
