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Kalamazoo's Windy Beginnings
Motorists driving in parts of Michigan might be surprised to encounter wind turbines slowly turning in the breeze. These giant machines generate electricity without relying on fossil fuels. Their importance has increased so significantly that Kalamazoo Valley Community College offers a Wind Turbine Technician Academy to train workers to service turbines.
Casual observers often refer to turbines as windmills. Residents of Kalamazoo could easily be forgiven for using that terminology because in the 19th century, the city was one of the three leading centers for windmill manufacturing in the United States. Chicago and Batavia, Illinois were Kalamazoo’s rivals, and in 1903, the Kalamazoo Gazette was calling Kalamazoo “The Windmill City of Michigan.”
Today’s turbines harness the wind to generate electrical power. Nineteenth century windmills also used the wind to generate power, just not electrical power. In a time before electric motors or internal combustion engines, windmills provided power for many chores on a farm.
In 1860, William H. Pendleton was a Kalamazoo manufacturer of pumps. Pumps were essential farm equipment, needed to provide water not only for household use but to feed livestock and to irrigate crops. Since windmills provided power for the pumps, it is not surprising that a pump dealer would get into the business of manufacturing windmills.
Pendleton, together with Bradley S. Williams, Kirk A. Smith, and Charles M. Hobbs, organized Pendleton, Williams, & Company in 1867 to sell and install windmills, pumps, and other agricultural equipment. In 1873, Pendleton and Hobbs sold their interest in the business, and it became known as Williams & Smith. It would eventually be called B. S. Williams & Company when Kirk Smith left to form his own company, known first as Smith & Woodard and later as Smith & Pomeroy.
In 1875, Horace Phelps and Melville J. Bigelow started the firm of Phelps & Bigelow, which manufactured the I-X-L windmill. Named for the company president, Homer Manvel, B. S. Williams Company’s best-known model may have been the Manvel, while Kirk Smith’s firm made the Eureka.
While these were the “Big Three” of local windmill manufacturers, they were not alone. Leroy Cahill incorporated the Bird Windmill Company in 1883. Samuel Barlow, George P. Youmans, and Ransom E. Strait organized Barlow & Youmans, later known as the Galesburg Wind Mill Company, in 1880.
By the early 20th century, the windmill industry was in decline. Pumps increasingly were powered by small engines. Of Kalamazoo’s windmill manufacturers, only one would survive. To do so, it changed its product line.
In 1904, B. S. Williams Company, together with Phelps & Bigelow and Smith & Pomeroy, organized Riverside Foundry to produce the steel needed for the windmill blades as well as the tanks and silos the companies produced. In 1913, B.S. Williams Company bought out the other two partners and reorganized as Kalamazoo Tank and Silo Company. Over the following decades, the company’s product line evolved from silos to clay tile tanks (used by the paper industry) and finally to band saws. In 1994, KTS Industries closed its doors nearly 125 years after the first windmills were manufactured in Kalamazoo.
Science of Wind Energy
Windmills operate with wind energy. But what makes wind?
Land and sea absorb different amounts of solar energy. Depending on the material and energy absorbed, these surfaces unevenly heat the air. Uneven heating causes winds, which balance the energy.
Tropical air rises while polar air descends, establishing a surface flow from the poles to the equator and a high altitude flow from the equator to the poles. Earth’s rotation twists winds to flow from the east in tropical and polar regions and from the west at mid-latitudes. Large bodies of water hold heat better than land, making offshore sea breezes in the morning and onshore breezes in the evening. Terrain features alter winds on smaller scales.
Moving air has momentum – stored energy. That energy can do work. Sails move boats, and windmills turn wheels to grind grain, pump water, or power machinery. Today, wind turbines turn generators to create electricity.
Kalamazoo’s future in wind The city’s wind energy legacy was rekindled with the addition of wind energy technology classes at Kalamazoo Valley’s Texas Township Campus and the opening of the Wind Turbine Technician Academy at the Groves Campus in 2009. The college was the first educational institution in the nation to establish a training center for technicians who work on utility-sized turbines clustered on wind farms.
Kalamazoo Valley remains a leader in the industry and the Academy is certified by Bildungszentrum fur Erneuerebare Energien (BZEE), which translates to “Renewable Energy Education Center.” BZEE is the leading trainer for wind-turbine technicians across Europe.
Twice a year, the WTTA offers a 26-week-long training academy. Graduates of the program gain skills needed for employment in the wind energy industry. Most technicians receive job offers before their classes end.
Casual observers often refer to turbines as windmills. Residents of Kalamazoo could easily be forgiven for using that terminology because in the 19th century, the city was one of the three leading centers for windmill manufacturing in the United States. Chicago and Batavia, Illinois were Kalamazoo’s rivals, and in 1903, the Kalamazoo Gazette was calling Kalamazoo “The Windmill City of Michigan.”
Today’s turbines harness the wind to generate electrical power. Nineteenth century windmills also used the wind to generate power, just not electrical power. In a time before electric motors or internal combustion engines, windmills provided power for many chores on a farm.
In 1860, William H. Pendleton was a Kalamazoo manufacturer of pumps. Pumps were essential farm equipment, needed to provide water not only for household use but to feed livestock and to irrigate crops. Since windmills provided power for the pumps, it is not surprising that a pump dealer would get into the business of manufacturing windmills.
Pendleton, together with Bradley S. Williams, Kirk A. Smith, and Charles M. Hobbs, organized Pendleton, Williams, & Company in 1867 to sell and install windmills, pumps, and other agricultural equipment. In 1873, Pendleton and Hobbs sold their interest in the business, and it became known as Williams & Smith. It would eventually be called B. S. Williams & Company when Kirk Smith left to form his own company, known first as Smith & Woodard and later as Smith & Pomeroy.
In 1875, Horace Phelps and Melville J. Bigelow started the firm of Phelps & Bigelow, which manufactured the I-X-L windmill. Named for the company president, Homer Manvel, B. S. Williams Company’s best-known model may have been the Manvel, while Kirk Smith’s firm made the Eureka.
While these were the “Big Three” of local windmill manufacturers, they were not alone. Leroy Cahill incorporated the Bird Windmill Company in 1883. Samuel Barlow, George P. Youmans, and Ransom E. Strait organized Barlow & Youmans, later known as the Galesburg Wind Mill Company, in 1880.
By the early 20th century, the windmill industry was in decline. Pumps increasingly were powered by small engines. Of Kalamazoo’s windmill manufacturers, only one would survive. To do so, it changed its product line.
In 1904, B. S. Williams Company, together with Phelps & Bigelow and Smith & Pomeroy, organized Riverside Foundry to produce the steel needed for the windmill blades as well as the tanks and silos the companies produced. In 1913, B.S. Williams Company bought out the other two partners and reorganized as Kalamazoo Tank and Silo Company. Over the following decades, the company’s product line evolved from silos to clay tile tanks (used by the paper industry) and finally to band saws. In 1994, KTS Industries closed its doors nearly 125 years after the first windmills were manufactured in Kalamazoo.
Science of Wind Energy
Windmills operate with wind energy. But what makes wind?
Land and sea absorb different amounts of solar energy. Depending on the material and energy absorbed, these surfaces unevenly heat the air. Uneven heating causes winds, which balance the energy.
Tropical air rises while polar air descends, establishing a surface flow from the poles to the equator and a high altitude flow from the equator to the poles. Earth’s rotation twists winds to flow from the east in tropical and polar regions and from the west at mid-latitudes. Large bodies of water hold heat better than land, making offshore sea breezes in the morning and onshore breezes in the evening. Terrain features alter winds on smaller scales.
Moving air has momentum – stored energy. That energy can do work. Sails move boats, and windmills turn wheels to grind grain, pump water, or power machinery. Today, wind turbines turn generators to create electricity.
Kalamazoo’s future in wind The city’s wind energy legacy was rekindled with the addition of wind energy technology classes at Kalamazoo Valley’s Texas Township Campus and the opening of the Wind Turbine Technician Academy at the Groves Campus in 2009. The college was the first educational institution in the nation to establish a training center for technicians who work on utility-sized turbines clustered on wind farms.
Kalamazoo Valley remains a leader in the industry and the Academy is certified by Bildungszentrum fur Erneuerebare Energien (BZEE), which translates to “Renewable Energy Education Center.” BZEE is the leading trainer for wind-turbine technicians across Europe.
Twice a year, the WTTA offers a 26-week-long training academy. Graduates of the program gain skills needed for employment in the wind energy industry. Most technicians receive job offers before their classes end.