The Shattuck Windmill Park

Windmills are a pretty iconic sight as you drive through America's farmland. Modern irrigation systems have made them less common than they once were, but there are still plenty out there. And I think they can be quite a beautiful sight. A lone windmill turning in the breeze, standing among the rolling grassy hills, silhouetted against a clear blue sky, maybe with some cows wandering around below it. Conjures a nice image, don't you think? 

Usually, however, you just see one windmill at a time. But what if I told you there was a place where you could see dozens of windmills all gathered together? A magical place for antique windmills to go when it's time to retire? Where they spend their golden years in the company of other like-minded windmills, swapping stories about their creaky blades, or reminiscing about the big drought of aught-six? 

Well, my friends, that place exists, and if you haven't guessed from the title of this post, it's called the Shattuck Windmill Park. 

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The windmill park is located right at the intersection of highways 15 and 283 in the town of Shattuck, Oklahoma, about 30 miles west of Woodward. The park is home to more than 50 windmills of various shapes and sizes (no two are alike!), which were donated to the park by farmers who no longer had a use for them. They are now all clustered together on this small, peaceful patch of land in Shattuck. 

The park was established in 1994, and is dedicated to the memory of the early homesteaders that first settled this area. The granite slabs that make up the entryway to the park were donated by two families whose ancestors first came to the area before 1910, and the surrounding brick wall is imprinted with the names of many of the area's first settlers along with their dates of arrival. 

There are also three buildings in the park, which help to give an idea of how the early settlers lived. There is a half-dugout sod house built into a hillside, which is the first sort of house a settler would build since lumber was scarce. They've also got a wooden farmhouse, which typifies the more permanent type of home the settlers would build next. Then finally, there is a general store, like one settlers would have shopped in. 

While the park is open for visitors daily from sunrise to sunset, the store is only open Monday-Saturday 10-4. Unfortunately I was passing through on a Sunday so I didn't get to see inside any of the buildings. 

The park is not too big, and is easily walkable. Before you begin exploring, you can stop by the little metal box in front of the entry gates where you can borrow a binder containing a paragraph explanation of each windmill including their manufacturer and original location. I took one with me as I explored, but honestly I didn't refer to it that often. Being just a casual windmill fan, it was really more information than I needed. But it lists lots of technical details for all you hardcore windmill aficionados out there! 

There really was a large variety of windmills - some big, some small, some made of wood, some made of metal. 

This red and yellow Eclipse windmill wasn't the tallest, but it must have been the biggest around.

The smallest windmill in the park was perched on the roof of the homestead, and was originally used solely to power a radio.

a typical metal windmill

Many of the wooden windmills had rather pretty paint jobs, like this cute green and white one.

Most of the windmill blades were arranged in a simple circle, but there were a few others that had groups of blades clustered together in arrangements that looked like the blades of a rake. These "rake-blades" were then arranged in a hexagon around the windmill's central spoke. It gives them a rather unique and interesting appearance. 

four hexagons floating in a sea of circles

Look, a horsie!

All in all, I had a very pleasant morning wandering among the windmills in Shattuck. I mean, who knew there could be so much variation in windmills?! I'm glad there is a place like this to preserve this icon of the plains!