High winds last week snapped off one of the blades of the The Mill museum along Route 66 in Lincoln, Illinois, and organizers are raising money to restore it.
Geoff Ladd of the Route 66 Heritage Foundation of Logan County said he was alerted about the damage Thursday. According to the Lincoln Courier:
“I received a call around 1 p.m. telling me that one of the sails of the windmill had broken off due to the high winds,” said Ladd. “… However, the piece has been rescued.” […]
Ladd said he hopes the public will help with donations to fix the sail.
“Though The Mill is now a museum, it still is need of donations for unexpected repairs like this one, and ongoing expenses,” said Ladd adding that more information is available at www.Mill66.com.
A Crowdrise campaign on the website has raised more than $900 as of Sunday morning.
The National Weather Service that day had issued an advisory about strong winds. According to data from the service, a weather station in Logan County had measured a gust of 51 mph that day.
The blades of The Mill were restored more than 10 years ago by John Weiss’ preservation crew with the Illinois Route 66 Association.
The reopening of The Mill in 2017 as a museum capped a decade-long effort to restore the Route 66 landmark. Ladd in 2006 saw the potential of a long-neglected and awful-looking property, marshaled local forces to save it from condemnation and helped raise $90,000 to renovate it.
The Mill, which featured a Dutch-inspired design and a turning windmill, opened on U.S. 66 in 1929. The Mill is a member of the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame as a business.
In case you’re wondering, the windmill part of the building always was strictly decorative. No operating windmill ever was there.
(Image of the damaged blade of The Mill museum in Lincoln, Illinois, courtesy of Geoff Ladd)
Doesn’t “appear” to have done any other damage on the way down.