Windmill Ceiling Fans of Texas

January 2025

admin — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 17:44:41 +0000

After taking a pause from operations, we began building fans again in January of this year, 2025. One of the fans we recently completed was a motor control box assembly for an 8′ Aermotor Wheel Assembly and Vane. The customer had their own windmill and vane, and we provided a custom design to meet their installation requirements. It was the longest overall drop of both a fan and vane that we’ve ever completed. The ceiling height was 22.5′, and the desired resting height of the fan was 11′. The motor control box assembly was our Open Box Design, where the belt, motor and pulleys are visible, giving a more old-fashioned look. A custom bracket was necessary to connect to the beam for proper stabilization for both the fan itself and the vane. The overall drop of 11.5′ was achieved successfully, and the customers did an outstanding job of installing it themselves!

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Water Pumping Windmills

admin — Wed, 05 May 2021 16:51:31 +0000

While we primarily sell windmill ceiling fans, many of our customers either have their own windmill they want to convert into a ceiling fan, or they have an actual water-pumping windmill still working on their home, farm, or ranch. For those customers that need parts for an existing windmill that is up on the tower still working, we can provide you with parts or help you troubleshoot maintenance or functionality issues. Or maybe you’d like to hang Grandpa & Grandma’s windmill wheel in the living room as a windmill ceiling fan, but still want it to pump water? We can provide a new or replicated vintage windmill wheel to go up on the tower. We sell new Aermotor windmills, towers, and accessories. We have heard from quite a few customers about wanting to get “off the grid”. We can help!

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Powder Coated Windmill Ceiling Fans

admin — Wed, 05 May 2021 01:29:37 +0000

For many of our customers, there is a color & design scheme they are looking to match in their home, restaurant, mancave, wedding / event venue or outdoor kitchen. We offer powder coated windmill ceiling fans, and many of our customers have chosen this option. Both the windmill itself, as well as the motor hang assembly, can be powder coated the same color (or different colors, if you like). Our standard finishes on our motor setups are flat black, gloss black, statuary bronze, and hot-dip galvanized. If you would like another color or finish on your windmill ceiling fan or motor, simply go to our Build Your Fan link in the menu above, and there is a link that will take you to our powder coating color chart. Or you can click on the link below to browse the color chart directly. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

https://www.axaltacolorcard.com/colorchips/alesta-color-card

With respect,
James C. McKendree
President
Windmill Ceiling Fans of Texas

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Vintage Windmill Ceiling Fan

admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 19:04:56 +0000

Up until the 1940’s, there were over a hundred different windmill companies still in operation. Many gave up regular operations to support the war effort, and stopped manufacturing windmills altogether. At the turn of this century, there were only two American-made windmill companies still in existence: The Aermotor Company, and The Dempster Windmill Company. In 2012, Dempster closed their doors, leaving Aermotor as the only one still harkening from the 1800’s. We often get requests to convert a customer’s old windmill wheel into a ceiling fan, and the windmill they have may be a Monitor Baker, Flint & Walling, Fairbury, Challenge, or other windmill model no longer in existence. As long as the hub supports the inverted installation for the windmill ceiling fan, and it is in good serviceable condition, we can build a windmill ceiling fan out of it. For rustic design themes, an old vintage / antique windmill wheel is a perfect fit. If you have an old windmill yourself, or know where you can get one, let us help you convert it into a beautiful windmill ceiling fan to set your space apart from the rest!!

God Bless,
James C. McKendree
President
Windmill Ceiling Fans of Texas

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Windmill Ceiling Fans of Texas: Real Windmills, Not Imitations

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 22:46:03 +0000

Windmill Ceiling Fans of Texas is a family owned, veteran owned business that started as Don’s Windmills in 1968. In 2014, as the demand for windmill ceiling fans came about, we shifted from traditional water-pumping windmills to building windmill ceiling fans. Our authentic windmill ceiling fans can be found in rustic & industrial design settings. Our fans have been installed in homes, barndominiums, outdoor kitchens, back porches, mancaves, restaurants, wedding venues, event venues, horse barns, Amish barns, pergolas, and many others. We use original, vintage windmill wheels as windmill ceiling fans, some of which reach back as far as the 1890’s. We also offer new Aermotor windmill wheels in new galvanized or hot-dip galvanized finishes. For a rustic look with a lighter price tag, we offer distressed / replicated vintage finishes on new fans. These are real windmills, not imitations, and everything that goes into our patent pending motor designs is 100% made in the U.S.A. For your rustic, farmhouse, shabby chic, industrial, or elegant design scheme, we can find a fan that matches. We also offer powder coated windmill ceiling fans to whatever color you need. If you want an authentic windmill ceiling fan, look no further. We are the only company in the United States (or the world) who build the real thing. We are proud to be family and veteran owned and operated, passing down the traditions of our family…and connecting you with your generations past.

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“Connecting Generations”

admin — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 19:10:21 +0000

My grandfather, Don Cote, founded Don’s Windmills alongside my grandmother, Opal Cote, in 1968. He was a U.S. Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, coming ashore at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, and then pushed inland to establish the first Allied air field at St. Mereglise, France. From there he served as an aerial photographer and back-up gunner on bombing missions over France and Germany. Growing up in Maine, his first language was French, which landed him a spot as an interpreter. As such, he was attached to a unit that liberated the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. None of us in the family knew about this until the Holocaust Museum opened in Houston in the early 90’s. At the time, he was very eager to go as soon as it opened, but we didn’t know why. He was not a man who showed emotion easily, as the world had not dealt him an easy hand from his childhood and on. Walking through the museum with him that day, he began to point at the photos from Buchenwald, and tears began to stream down his face. At one point he leaned against one of the displays, and stated that he never thought anyone would believe what he saw there. Years of pent-up emotion and anger came pouring out, and as a young boy I came to understand the toll war takes on the heart of those who experience it.

As Joe Galloway famously states in the beginning of the book “We Were Soldiers Once…And Young” that chronicles the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam:

“We who have seen war, will never stop seeing it.”

For those of the Greatest Generation, many came home and never spoke of it. They were loving fathers and mothers, proud of what they did and proud of this country. They came home and went about doing whatever it took to take care of their families. The example they set for us cannot be overstated.

When our country was attacked at the dawn of this century, I was in my first year of college. After losing a friend in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, I decided it was time. I’ll never forget sitting down with my grandpa and telling him I was joining the Marine Corps. He said:

“No honey…no. Use your brains; join the Air Force if you’re going to do it,” he said.

“No Pepaw- the Air Force is too smart for me. And I just want to be infantry, nothing else.”

Much to his chagrin, I got my wish. One of my favorite conversations I ever had with him was on the phone in 2008. I called him from Afghanistan and asked him how he was doing.

“Not too good, honey. I tried to fix a windmill over in Friendswood the other day and couldn’t pull myself up on the platform to oil it,” he said.

“Pepaw, how tall was the tower?” I asked.

“40 footer.”

He was 89 years old on that call. As a testament to his generation, if there was work to be done, then it would get done. Even if you had to climb a 40 foot windmill tower at 89 years old to do it. He passed away in 2009 a few months shy of his 91st birthday. I miss him and my grandmother dearly. Above is a picture of me returning his salute in the flag room of the Memorial Student Center at Texas A&M University the day I received my commission. Hopefully I’ve carried his torch well.

Happy Veteran’s Day to all of our customers and followers. Thank you for your service, and if you took the time to read this, thank you. To all the Marines out there:

Semper Fidelis. Fratres Aeternum.

In Christ,

James C. McKendree
President
Windmill Ceiling Fans of Texas

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