Alan Morrell

Special to Rochester Democrat and Chronicle USA TODAY NETWORK

The Williamson windmill was a longtime community landmark in Wayne County that began as a roadside attraction during the Great Depression.

Its blades stopped spinning long ago and the structure was vacant for decades, but still served as an unofficial “welcome mat” to the area. Kids played in and around it and entrepreneurs floated restoration plans.

But the windmill also had a tragic history. It sat at a fork in the road on Ridge Road and was damaged by several accidents that occurred there, some of them fatal.

So, Whatever Happened to…the Williamson windmill?

The 30-foot windmill debuted around 1933 to draw attention to the adjoining Windmill Vacation Cabins. Dutch immigrants had settled the area in the mid-1800s, and most everyone associated the windmill with the Dutch heritage. The cabins were a big hit until Route 104 was extended to the area in the ‘40s and vehicles bypassed the old roadway.

Donna Perry of Clyde, Wayne County, grew up next to the windmill and remembers it well.

“It was originally built for the tourists going to Sodus Point from Rochester, before the days of (Route) 104,” Perry posted on Facebook. Her fondest memories were from years later, when she was a kid.

“We used to sneak inside from a trap door…to play hide and seek, and, as we grew older, less savory activities,” Perry wrote. “It was a landmark!”

During the heyday of the Windmill Cabins, the roomy windmill was reportedly used as a honeymoon suite. After the place faded in popularity, the windmill sat unused but its two 24-foot-long blades continued to spin – at least, until around 1950.

Windstorm

That was when a windstorm made the blades whirl so fast that they fell off. The incident was recalled in a 1970 Democrat and Chronicle story about the windmill, headlined “It Just Stands There/Dutch Windmill’s Oddity.”

“There was a small motor inside that slowed the arms when they got going too fast,” the story states. “Evidently, the wind had other ideas.”

More:Whatever Happened to ... Seabreeze's Over the Falls ride?

More:Whatever Happened To ... Silver Stadium?

Propeller-like blades

In 1960, a teacher at Williamson Central School named James Todd bought the windmill and reinstalled the propeller-like blades but bolted them down to prevent a similar accident. Todd fixed the place up a bit but never got around to converting the windmill’s interior as he had planned.

A 1962 story reported that the former vacation cabins had been remade into “housekeeping apartments” and that a fire there left four families homeless. The 1970 article said the cottage venture was “long defunct” but the windmill itself remained, “doing nothing.”

Later that year, a car slammed into the side of the windmill and burst into flames, killing the driver and severely damaging the windmill. The fork in the road where the windmill sat – at the triangle of Ridge and Swamp roads – could be tricky to navigate, particularly at night.

“More than one car hit (the windmill),” Cathy Hanagan posted on Facebook. “My brother was in one of those accidents when there were trees and a ditch there. He was found hanging from a tree. No fatalities, though.”

Perry, who was quoted above, remembered that crash and others. She wrote about a small gorge and shale creek by the windmill that was later filled in. In one accident, Perry posted, a car was hanging by the bumpers from each bank.

“We local kids helped the family out and out of the gorge before the rescue crew arrived,” she wrote.

Changing hands

Meanwhile, ownership of the windmill changed hands several times. One owner planned to make it into a gift shop. Another promised to refurbish the structure and turn it over to the town for general maintenance. Finally, a man named Tim Boisvert bought it in 1989 and made headway with solid plans.

Boisvert, who grew up in Williamson, said he had admired the windmill since he was a kid and passed it while riding the school bus. He described it in a news story as “like an enchanted little house.” By 1989, Boisvert was living in Chicago but decided to buy the windmill while visiting his hometown.

The place had become an eyesore but was still much-loved by many. Students who attended classes at the BOCES vocational school across the street helped with initial construction work. Boisvert reportedly sunk more than $10,000 into the windmill and was fixing it up with plans to live in it by early 1994.

And then, tragedy struck again.

A man was killed in October 1993 when the car he was driving went airborne around a curve in the area, flew about 25 feet and slammed into the windmill. The impact toppled the structure.

Boisvert was devastated. “My little treasure is completely destroyed,” he said in a Democrat and Chronicle story. “And to make it worse, someone was killed.”

Then-Town Supervisor Mary Ann Bliek said everyone was saddened by the accident and called the windmill “an important symbol of Williamson,” and “a source of pride here.”

Boisvert said he didn’t have the heart to tackle the project again. And the long-standing landmark was gone for good.

Alan Morrell is a Rochester-based freelance writer.