In 1882, a young engineer named Thomas Perry set out to design a better windmill, obsessively testing aerodynamic performance and developing rotors 87% more efficient than those in general use. But the windmill company that hired him rejected his design; it would be expensive to retrofit their operations. So he left.

Chicago industrialist LaVerne Noyes hired Perry to design a grain binder, but got interested in Perry’s windmill ideas. They launched the “mathematical” windmill, as its competitors derisively called it—long on theory, short on performance—in 1888. The wooden models of the time were nostalgic and warm: as one old-timer put it, “Wood is less likely to damage the wind.”[1] But Aermotor was undeniably better. Mass produced in Chicago, it arrived on farms ready for assembly. By 1892, Aermotor was selling 20,000 a year.

They’re picturesque now—Aermotor still exists, selling some models purely for decoration—but at the time were described as “awkward, spider-like structure dancing fandangos before our eyes” marring the “landscape of our otherwise beautiful homes.”[2]

Prairie windmills tapped into the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast underground reservoir stretching from South Dakota to Texas. No wind-powered pump could make a dent in this prehistoric water source, formed over the eons as gravel rolled off the Rocky Mountains. But diesel-powered pumps could. Since large-scale irrigation began, levels that naturally refill at half an inch annually have dropped more than 200 feet in some places. It will take 6,000 years to replenish the water. Geologically speaking, that’s next week.

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Special thanks to Jeff Weiss for suggesting the Aermotor windmill.

Links:

• The Largest US Groundwater Supply Is Running Out – Alice Gibbs, Newsweek, May 28, 2026

  
  

• Best essay on windmills: Free As the Wind - A. Clyde Eide, Nebraska History 51, 1970 (PDF)

  
  

• How a windmill works: Aermotor (official website)

  
  

• Reaping The Wind – Bill George, Invention & Technology, Winter 1993

  
  

• History of Aermotor towers (electrical, radio, lookout) - Society for Industrial Archeology (PDF)

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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[1] A. Clyde Eide, "Free as the Wind," Nebraska History 51 (Spring 1970), p. 30.

[2] Christopher C. Gillis Sr., Still Turning: A History of Aermotor Windmills (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2015).