American Wind Power Center
The invention of the self governing windmill and its subsequent successful manufacture greatly influenced the development of the western two-thirds of the United States. Windmills from that period tell the story of ingenuity, hardship, success and failure of the early settlers as they applied a new technology to conditions in an environment with which they were barely familiar. Between 1854 and 1920, over seven hundred companies had manufactured tens of thousands of windmills. There are now only two of those companies left, one of which is in Texas. Most windmills from that period have now been lost and those that remain are in the hands of private collectors or in sparse exhibits in general purpose museums. The passing of these windmills means that future generations can only learn about the windmill's history through pictures.
In the mid-sixties, Billie Wolfe, a faculty member of Texas Tech's College of Home Economics, taught courses in Housing Design for Family Living. Supporting documents for these classes included photographs of farm and ranch structures. Those photographs invariably had in the background a windmill. Usually it was just the remains of a tower, topped with bits of castings, loosely bolted arm strut and a bullet ridden tail. While houses continued to be the subject matter of her lectures, she realized that the windmills in those pictures were rapidly disappearing and they became the focus of her interest.
Dr. Grover Murray, President of Texas Tech at the time, was working to establish the Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands and his visits with Ms. Wolfe brought out the importance the windmill played in providing water for early settlers in those lands. He encouraged Ms. Wolfe to continue her photography and began funding that work through his office. The Texas Tech museum was being moved to a new and larger structure and Dr. Murray envisioned a permanent exhibit of windmills to be a part of that new facility. However, a collection of early mills suitable for display was unavailable and that wing of the museum was never built.
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