Little Chute Digs into Windmill Project - Nonprofit has Raised $2.2 Million to Build Monument | The Boldt Company

LITTLE CHUTE — With the red, white and blue of Dutch and American flags aflutter along Main Street, more than 200 people crowded a field beside Little Chute Village Hall Tuesday to mark the groundbreaking of a 100-foot-tall Dutch windmill expected to occupy that spot this time next year.

"The big day has finally arrived," said Don DeGroot, president of the Little Chute Windmill Inc., a nonprofit that has raised $2.2 million over the last decade to erect the monument to Little Chute's Dutch heritage.

As the crowd cheered in the afternoon sun, DeGroot joined Village Board President Mike Vanden Berg, Windmill Executive Director

Robin Dekker and representatives from The Boldt Co. and Quantic Architecture with shovels in hand to break ground, heralding the start of construction on the windmill.

"This is the second milestone in our journey," DeGroot told the audience. "The first milestone was signing a contract with (Lucas) Verbij (of Windmill Design & Construction in the Netherlands). This is the start of the second milestone. The third milestone will be when we cut that ribbon."

DeGroot and Dekker hope to raise the remaining $600,000 needed to complete the project in time to open its doors by late summer next year.

Once it's finished, the windmill will be fully functional and grind wheat in flour. Guests will be able to learn about Northeast Wisconsin's Dutch roots at the Van Asten Visitor Center.

In addition to educating Little Chute children about the community's Dutch heritage, DeGroot said one of the main goals of the project is to "attract tourists to stimulate the local economy."

Margie Adler, 51, who grew up on the spot where the windmill will soon stand, braved the heat

on a cloudless summer afternoon to witness the groundbreaking.

"I'm very happy for the people that worked so hard to see their dreams come (true)," said Adler, whose family roots in Little Chute date back to the early 1900s. "It's really nice that they've been so successful for such a little town to do something so big."

Marveling at the size of the turnout for the construction launch, former village trustee Steve Ransbottom said, "We've been waiting for this for so long, everybody wants to see it."

Melissa Marks, 29, of Little Chute, brought her toddlers, Evan and Faith, and Jenni Van Gompel, 37, of Little Chute, brought her son, Mitchell, 10.

"We're excited about it," Van Gompel said. "It'll be fun to go and tour it and have other people from surrounding communities come out to visit … I like bringing the Dutch heritage into Little Chute, because we are so strong in that."

Adler said the windmill is "definitely the infrastructure of the Dutch."

"It's so important that people remember where the people in this town came from," Adler said.

Before shovels dug into the earth and guests enjoyed Dutch music while girls in lace bonnets, colorful aprons and clogs paraded around the field, Fa. Jim Hablewitz, pastor at St. John Nepomucene Parish, offered a blessing.

"What a wonderful day it is," Hablewitz said. "I think somebody up there loves us, because it's a beautiful day to start this project … May the Lord regard of our work with kindness and watch over us as this project is brought to completion."

As he sprinkled holy water over the soil "to make this even holier ground," Hablewitz prayed, "May God bless this land and all that will be built here."