For about a year, Preservation Partners staff members Diane Malaker and Amy Hiler searched for an expert to assess and possibly restore the Fabyan Windmill. The windmill, originally constructed some time between 1850 and 1880, was moved from its original location near Lombard, Illinois in 1914 to Colonel Fabyan's Riverbank Estate in Geneva.
Hiller and Malaker connected with the DeZwaan Windmill in Holland, Michigan which was planning to have an expert from the Netherlands assess their windmill and agreed to share his expenses with Preservation Partners to also visit Geneva.
Lukas Verbij of Verbij Hoogmade BV, the oldest existing windmill construction company in Holland, visited the Fabyan Windmill on September 26 and 27, 1997. He found that "The structure is still very solid because it was well put together." However, a considerable amount of dry-rot was found as well as other issues which eventually added up to nearly $1 million in repairs, much of which was done in the Netherlands and shipped back to Geneva. Nearly 8 years later, the restoration was complete and the Fabyan Windmill reopened to the public on June 3, 2005.
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PHOTO: Cary Best, "A Fix for the Fabyan Windmill," Daily Herald, c.1999.
SOURCES: "Flying Dutchman Comes to Fabyan Windmill," Advocate (Fall 1997): 5; Dave Fornell, "Expert Looks at Fabyan Windmill for Future Repairs," Geneva Republican, October 2, 1997; Christopher Petersen, "History in the Wind," Geneva Republican, June 9, 2005.