Water Topics for Nebraska Teachers - Newly Offered Workshop

The Kregel Windmill Factory Museum, in conjunction with the American Groundwater Trust, is hosting a teacher's workshop on the topics of Nebraska groundwater, natural resources, and conservation. This workshop will qualify for professional development credit. More information to be added soon.

When:        May 25-26, 2016 (9:00am - 3:30pm - lunch provided)

Where:      Kimmel Education & Research Center, 5985 G Rd, Nebraska City, NE 68410

Cost:         Free!...Includes lunch, snacks, and a (big) bunch of handouts

Grades:    Middle & High School

Eligibility:Teacher/educators in traditional or non-trad education in Nebraska/Western Iowa

Register Now

Send an email to workshop@kregelmuseum.org

include name, school, grades, taught, email, and phone number

Pumped Up For a New Exhibit

After many months we are happy to announce the completion of a new exhibit here at the museum. In striving to provide a more inclusive experience for students of all ages we have been trying to add more hands-on activities to the museum tour. Visitors to the museum already have the ability to utilize the seven touchscreen kiosks through out the factory which contain videos and information about the machinery and history of the Kregel Windmill Company. Guests are also able to visualize how a water-pumping windmill is able to turn its wheel into the oncoming wind for more efficient operation through our miniature windmill exhibit featured in the front area of the gallery. Now, with the addition of our new pump exhibit, guests will be able to better understand how a windmill pump cylinder is used underground to bring water to the surface with each reciprocation of the sucker rod. 

This new exhibit is constructed from clear acrylic tubing so that visitors can see the old style check valve, along with an original leather seal, move up and down inside the pump cylinder. This type of technology was used for many years as an efficient way to bring up groundwater. We are very proud of the fact that this exhibit was designed and built in house and that we are able to have it on display to better explain what can be a complicated visualization for some guests. Not being able to see the inner workings of a pump cylinder can make it difficult to teach about and with this new exhibit we believe we have solved that issue. The following is a progression of pictures from the design and construction stages of this exhibit. Please feel free to stop by for a tour and check out our great new exhibit.

Constructing the 1"x 2" skeleton frame

Farther along on the frame

Adding the 1"x 4" fascia boards

All 1"x 4" boards mounted

Plywood cut and added to the exhibit

Mocking up the PVC and bucket reservoir system

PVC and acrylic mock-up after painting and assembly

Constructing the upper display case

Acrylic sheets installed in panel slots

Another angle of display case

Lower half stained and finished

Upper half of case stained and finished

Top and bottom halves finished

Pump assembly and display case mounted to base

Completed exhibit with panels installed

Special thanks to the Kropp Foundation of Nebraska City for making this exhibit possible through a generous grant.

Second Annual Speaker Series Kickoff

Attention, one and all! Since our speaker events last year had such a great reception we are very proud to announce the first event of our three part Fall Speaker Series for 2015! The kickoff for this event is always on the Saturday evening of the Applejack Festival here in Nebraska City, which this year is September 19th at 7 pm. The speaker for this event will be F. John Hay, a UNL extension educator and biological systems engineer. For more than 10 years Mr. Hay has been working with the extension in the area of energy and fuel literacy and in 2011 created the Wired for Wind curriculum for the National 4H Council's Youth Science Day. Since then he has continued to create curricula for high schools, such as Wired for Wind: Wind Physics, that focuses on wind energy and renewable sources of power. 

Mr. Hay's presentation is entitled "History of Wind Turbines: Electricity on the Prairie" and will be a study of the history of wind generated electricity as well as an overview of the current, fast-growing wind industry.

This event is free to the public with refreshments provided. We hope that you will join us for this interesting and fun evening! May your blades always catch the wind!

Adventures of the Molinological Museologist

In this new section of the blog page I would like to take some time to look further into the industry of early wind power. Over the last few hundred years there have been countless designs, styles, and manufacturers of windmills, wind-pumps, or any iteration thereof. Excuse the mouthful of a title to this section but I felt like being over grandiose just for the sake of it, if only for my own ego. Molinology is the study of windmills. Technically it is the study of mills or other mechanical devices that utilize the power of the wind or water to accomplish their specific task. Mostly this is used to describe the study of European style mills such as those found in Holland, Germany, and Poland. Likewise, museology is the study of museums and museum curation. Sure looks a lot better on a business card than most other titles, doesn't it? Anyway, on with the good stuff!

 Romeo & Juliet pictured from Hillside II on the original stone footing.

In this first "Adventures of..." post I would like to highlight one of my favorite windmills designed by one of my favorite designers. Although this was not a mass-produced factory windmill it is still one of the coolest looking I have ever come across. The windmill I'm talking about is none other than Romeo & Juliet which was designed by the one and only Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright designed and built this windmill at his Taliesin Fellowship in 1896. The windmill gets its name from the two towers combined together that make up the main structure. The shorter diamond-shaped tower is "Juliet" and the larger octagon-shaped section with the windmill head on top of it is "Romeo". The original commission for this windmill was made by Wright's aunts who had started the Hillside Home School in Spring Green, Wisconsin. The windmill was initially used to provide water to the school and was covered in shingles to match the rest of the buildings at the school. The original structure was demolished in 1990 but a replica was erected shortly thereafter. 

Photo of the windmill with the original wooden wheel ca. 1900

Standing 60 feet in the air Wright's design was not the most practical or cheap for the location but his aunts that asked him for it were adamant about having something on the hill that would look pretty. The structure originally cost $975 in 1896, which was over $600 more than if they had just assembled a standard steel tower windmill in its place. 

Romeo & Juliet can be seen in its original location in Spring Green, WI along with buildings from the first Hillside Home School and Taliesin. For more information on this interesting piece of wind power history check out the Taliesin Preservation  Society website. Keep watching this blog for more updates in the future and may your blades always catch the wind!

Cashing-In on History

It has been an exciting week here at the museum as we have been fortunate to receive a new addition to our family of artifacts. The Kissler family of Lincoln, NE recently donated a cash register that was originally built for Robert Kregel & Bros. Auto Repair here in Nebraska City. Robert Kregel was the brother of Arthur Kregel that took over the Kregel Windmill Company in the 1940's. Robert, as well as Art's other brothers Mark and Don, ran the auto repair shop in town from 1910 to 1948. When Robert passed away in 1948 the shop was cleared out and machinery was sold off or stored in the old windmill factory. This particular cash register was likely sold back to the National Cash Register company after the shop closed.
This register is a Class 400 from the National Cash Register Company and was built in Dayton, OH. Underneath the cash drawer there is still an intact manufacturer's sticker that states it was built on July 17th, 1918 for Robert Kregel and Bros Auto Repair and was sold by H.B. Whitehouse. Also on this sticker are the serial number and the tracer number, used to designate the specific assembler of the register.

The style of this register definitely matches the mindset and frugality of the Kregel family, mostly as it is fairly unadorned and simple. Most of the machines of this class and from this company were decked out in bronze or silver inlay and had very elaborate designed etched into their cases. This one however has a simply steel body that is painted to look like wood grain and the push buttons are all plastic backed and not the fancier mother-of-pearl.

The following picture shows the only special add-on that was built onto this cash register. It is a receipt printer that would allow the printing of a specific type of work that was done to a customer's vehicle. This device is no longer in working order but there is still paper fed into it, although it is so brittle that it won't run through. 

We would love for everyone to swing by the museum and check out this new addition to our collection. It will be prominently displayed as we will be using it as our primary cash register. So come on in and hear the bell ring as this old cash register comes back to life after 67 years in retirement. We hope to see you at the museum, and my your blades always catch the wind!

NET Presents "From Diggers to Drillers"

We are very pleased to have been a part of this recent documentary to come out of NET which highlights the rich history of the Nebraska well-drilling industry. From the early years of our state to the current agricultural heartland that we call home, this documentary discusses how access to water has transformed over the last 150 years. This interesting and education piece was produced in conjunction with the Nebraska Welldriller's Association and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. We hope that you will find it as informational and eye-opening as we did. Enjoy!

From Diggers to Drillers | netnebraska.org

The Story of the Kregel Windmill Company: Part 3

The following is the last installment in the our narrative history of the Kregel Windmill Company. We hope that you've enjoyed the story and if you would like more information please contact us at the Kregel Windmill Factory Museum in Nebraska City. Thank you for your interest and, as always, may your blades always catch the wind!