Kregel Windmill Factory Museum

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The Kregel Wind Mill Company made wind wheel water pumping windmills in Nebraska City, Nebraska starting in the 1879. It is the present day Kregel Windmill Factory Museum.HistoryThe brand of windmills that the Kregel Windmill Company produced was called "ELI" — as an homage to one of George Kregel's friends, a preacher named Eli Huber, who had died. Kregel windmills were used to pump water from wells at farms and homes in the region of southeastern Nebraska surrounding Nebraska City. Managed by George F. Kregel, the company moved to the current Central Avenue building in 1903, operating in that location for 88 years.The Central Avenue factory has been preserved with all of its manufacturing equipment. The machinery in the factory is powered by a central transverse line shaft and leather belts coming down to pulleys on each machine. The line shaft itself was originally powered by a single cylinder engine but in the 1920s was converted to electricity. After manufacturing more than 2000 windmills the company stopped making windmills in the 1940s, and the Kregels worked instead in pump repair and well maintenance until 1991 in the same location.The factory is a one-story wood frame building. The flat-roofed building has two small roof monitors for light and ventilation. The front facade is clad with pressed sheet metal in a brick pattern, with four bays. The interior is a large open space with two structural bays, and a small office space. All of the company's tools and records have been preserved.