{"nrhp_refnum":"73001167","name":"Gladden Windmill","other_names":["Milks Windmill"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Pigeon Valley Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Napoli","county":"Cattaraugus County","state":"NY","lat":42.235255659000075,"lon":-78.89544148099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-07-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story wood-frame vertical windmill on a stone foundation, on Pigeon Valley Road in Napoli, Cattaraugus County, New York. Farmer Gladden built it between 1890 and 1891 to power his farm machinery.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the mill is a significant piece of industrial architecture with an uncommon vertical windwheel and shutter design, perhaps otherwise vanished in the United States. It is described as a unique, ingenious answer to one farmer's search for convenience and productivity. It is largely intact apart from the removed vanes.","narrative":"Gladden Windmill, also called Milks Windmill, is a four-story wood-frame vertical windmill on a stone foundation on Pigeon Valley Road in Napoli, New York. Three lower stories held the milling machinery, and the fourth held a revolving windwheel about 11 feet high and 19 feet across, ringed by 16 shutters that directed wind into the wheel. Its frame uses hand-hewn beech timbers, with tall hemlock corner posts. A farmer named Gladden, wanting to avoid the long trip to a gristmill, saw a similar design near Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1888 and acquired rights to build one. The foundation was laid in fall 1890 and the mill was finished a year later. It powered grain grinding, cider pressing, a lathe and a repair shop. The nomination calls it an uncommon piece of industrial architecture and a farmer's ingenious solution to productivity. The mill no longer operates, and its vanes have been removed, but the structure is largely intact.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1890)","architect_builder":"Gladden (farmer who built the mill; named as George Gladden in the significance text and Charles Gladden as author of the cited article)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"No longer operational but largely intact except for the removed vanes; condition marked fair, altered, on original site. Later notes in the file record a proposed move to a new site and removal from the Register in 1981.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.58051-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/73001167.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001167/2d1bc241ed-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001167/2d1bc241ed-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Home_at_Gladden_Windmill_site_Aug_10.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Home_at_Gladden_Windmill_site_Aug_10.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316646","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladden_Windmill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5566213"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/cattaraugus-county/gladden-windmill-73001167/"}