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Windmill, wooden shoes give Fulton a Dutch touch.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Mike Michaelson

Roy Nelson wears wooden shoes to work. So does Kent Huisingh and many of the 23 other volunteer millers who staff de Immigrant, an authentic Dutch windmill alongside the Mississippi River in Fulton, Ill.

The 90-foot-tall working windmill - a $1 million civic project - was prefabricated in Holland, then disassembled and transported in 2000 to its present site beside a flood-control dike alongside the river. Inside, millers grind flour that is sold to visitors and used in a local bakery. Outside, wind turns the giant sails and flutters the flags of Holland's 12 provinces.

Given local history, it is not so unlikely to find this behemoth from Holland in America's heartland. Fulton (population 3,881) is as Dutch as a wooden shoe. In fact, last year, while other communities were installing fiberglass cows, cats and other themed street art, Fulton was strategically placing whimsically decorated giant wooden shoes around town. Some of them remain as permanent reminders of the event.

Dutch...

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