1905 FLINT AND WALLING MFG CO. STAR WINDMILL LETTERHEAD KENDALLVILLE INDIANA.

Description

1905 FLINT AND WALLING MFG CO. STAR WINDMILL LETTERHEAD KENDALLVILLE INDIANA. STAR WINDMILL AND HOOSIER AND FAST MAIL PUMPS. NICE VIGNETTE. ORIGINAL
HOOSIER AND FAST MAIL PUMPS
FAMOUS FOR THE STAR WINDMILL
WRITTEN TO R H NORRIS HARDWARE, CHILDRESS TEXAS
SEE COMMENTS BELOW
SEE MY STORE: VINTAGE HARDWARE STORE COLLECTIBLES
STAR WINDMILL, FLINT AND WALLING MFG CO.
Used in most parts of the US and exported to numerous foreign countries, the
ORIGINAL STAR
solid wheel wooden windmill was the second most popular wooden windmill on the Great Plains from the 1880's throughout the first World War.  Invented by David C. Walling in 1878, it was almost immediately thereafter placed on the market by Flint, Walling, and Company of Kendallville, Indiana.
The manufacturer traces its origins to the same foundry first operated at Kendallville about 1856 by William and McComsky, which within a decade had become Hildreth and Burgess, and then W.M. Hildreth and Co.  In 1866, David C. Walling and Simeon Flint bought an interest in the business and then in 1872 they were joined in the enterprise by Henry I. Park.  Already by 1870, the firm was manufacturing a windmill known as the Hall, but after Walling's 1878 invention of the Original Star, the improved mill became the firm's main product.  After Henry Park's entry into the business in 1872, the name of the firm became Flint, Walling, and  Company.  It was reorganized in 1886 as the Flint and Walling Manufacturing Company.  The original directors of the company were Simeon Flint, David C. Walling, Henry I. Park, and Rufus G. Marcy.
The Original Star windmill is of the solid wheel pattern, with its wheel set to one side.  An additional side vane governor was an optional accessory.  One of the most striking features of the Original Star is that its wheel turns counterclockwise, contrary to most mills, which turn clockwise.
This mill has curved rims holding its thin wooden blades instead of the more common straight rims as used on its prime competitor, the Eclipse.  The Star mills are painted very attractively with white woodwork trimmed with red tips on the blades and vane and the addition of red and blue stars on the vane sheet.  The inscription of the manufacturer's name and the words "
Star Mill
" is stenciled in a black script.  Ironwork is painted leaf green on all the casting of its mills to the mid twentieth century.
The mills were produced in regular pattern mills in 10', 12', and 14' sizes, while railroad pattern mills were available in 16', 18', 20', 24', and 26' diameters.  In 1887, the 10' mills sold for , while the 26' size cost 0.
Original Star mills remained on the market until about 1920.  In the last years of manufacture, the Original Star was made in 10', 12', 14' and 16' sizes only.
ORIGINAL, LETTERHEADS, BILLHEAD, BILLHEADS, HARDWARE.