About Us
Our Story
Almost everyone has a story of a project that was started but never finished. A story of an unfinished project is the story behind Midwest Windmill Company. It’s the story of a 14-year-old boy, Mark, and his father. Some might call it the perfect storm of fate, timing, and God’s master plan. In 1999 Mark’s father brought home a windmill he bought for $100 from a farm auction. His plans were to set it up along the driveway. But, being busy with other things, he never got around to setting it up. Eventually, Mark’s dad realized he needed to get rid of his unfinished project. Since internet auctions were becoming increasingly common at the time, he put it up for sale on eBay and promptly received $1,200. As you can imagine this sparked a buying spree, over the next 4 years, their family would purchase hundreds of windmills.
Because they were unused and in the way, most farmers were basically giving them away. They relocated hundreds of windmills from North Missouri to new locations in Southern Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, and even around the world mostly through online auctions. After only a few years of buying and selling these antique relics that shaped the west, the market began to dry up, and the business faded away but the passion for it never left Mark’s soul.
Then in 2012, at a farm auction, Mark saw a tall standing iron relic spinning in the wind. He knew most of those around him saw it as scrap iron, but to Mark, it was so much more. It was what rekindled Mark’s childhood passion. He brought it home, eager to get to work in his old dirt floor barn with his secondhand tools, repairing the bent up blades and refurbishing it. People throughout the north Missouri countryside quickly began to notice Mark’s work and started contacting him to service their neglected windmills.
Midwest Windmill company is owned by SMMSC LLC which is owned by the Henry family. With Mark’s father who sparked the flame and his grandfather who has been keeping him in line and driving him forward, even in the hardest of times, the story is continuing to be written! It’s been through word of mouth and social media that the company really took off. To date, his burning passion for the American farm windmill has enabled him to save and refurbish over 1000 windmills.
Mark is committed to passing on his knowledge and enthusiasm for the American windmill to future generations so that the American windmill can continue to be maintained. Mark and his wife, Kim, are passionate collectors of all American windmills and have enjoyed spending the last 10 years of their marriage looking for the lost and broken pieces of windmills scattered throughout the countryside of America. The shared goal of saving the world’s greatest windmills from destruction and bringing them back to their former splendor so that they might once again spin in the wind, supplying water to farmers and families, is what keeps them going. This love and passion reminds them of the gospel and enables them to share their faith in God’s love for all the broken people around the world who are seeking their own restoration in their lives.