Today
Kane County considered the windmill's demolition as early as 1990 when it became structurally unsafe for public inspection. However, local citizens began fighting to keep the mill intact. In 1997, the Forest Preserve District contracted third-generation Dutch windmill maker Lucas Verbij to fully restore the windmill for a cost of over $900,000. It made its public debut in June 2005.
The Fabyan Windmill is the best example of an authentic Dutch windmill in the United States, actually it's a treasure and would be the most popular windmill in the Netherlands (we currently have 1000 windmills). —Lucas VerbijThe grinding mechanisms to make flour have been restored and are in use today by mill volunteers who do demonstrations to the public.
Even now, the varnish from 1915 is in near perfect condition because the climate inside the mill varies little from season to season due to its superior construction, and the Roman numeral markings carved into the beams used in original reconstruction are still visible.
Read more about this topic: Fabyan Windmill
Famous quotes containing the word today:
“All great art, and today all great artlessness, must appear extreme to the mass of men, as we know them today. It springs from the anguish of great souls. From the souls of men not formed, but deformed in factories whose inspiration is pelf.”
—Alexander Trocchi (1925–1983)
“Not too many years ago, a child’s experience was limited by how far he or she could ride a bicycle or by the physical boundaries that parents set. Today ... the real boundaries of a child’s life are set more by the number of available cable channels and videotapes, by the simulated reality of videogames, by the number of megabytes of memory in the home computer. Now kids can go anywhere, as long as they stay inside the electronic bubble.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)
“Whether we regard the Women’s Liberation movement as a serious threat, a passing convulsion, or a fashionable idiocy, it is a movement that mounts an attack on practically everything that women value today and introduces the language and sentiments of political confrontation into the area of personal relationships.”
—Arianna Stassinopoulos (b. 1950)