Bronson Windmill Rededication And Celebration Planned
Bronson Windmill Rededication And Celebration Planned
FAIRFIELD â On Saturday, June 10, at 5:30 pm, Fairfield Historical Society will celebrate the completion of a six-year restoration of Bronson Windmill with a rededication at the windmill, 3015 Bronson Road. The dedication event is free and open to the public.
The ceremony will be followed by a celebration by Fairfield Historical Society, from 6 to 9 pm, across the street at Fairfield Country Day School. Tickets to that event are $75 per person and can be purchased by calling the historical society at 203-259-1598.
Bronson Windmill is one of the most well-loved and widely recognized icons of Fairfield. It was built in 1893 to provide water for Frederic Bronsonâs Verna Farm (now Fairfield Country Day School).
Made of hemlock, the windmill stands 105 feet high and was designed to pump water from a well 75 feet below ground level. It is believed to have been the first deep well in the area.
Wind power pumped water into a 7,500-gallon wooden storage tank located nearly 70 feet up the windmill. When full, the tank weighed more than 31 tons and provided water by gravity to the Bronson mansion and the adjoining dairy farm and outbuildings.
In 1971 Bronson Windmill was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1972 Fairfield Country Day School, owner of the former Bronson estate, donated the windmill to the Town of Fairfield. Periodic restorations of the mill were conducted by concerned citizens in 1974, 1979 and 1996.
In 1999 management and restoration of the historic structure was entrusted to Fairfield Historical Society.