Finding Minnesota: Shooting The Breeze With The Windmill Man

JASPER, Minn. (WCCO) -- If you want to go where the wind blows, head into the prairies of southwestern Minnesota where strong, steady gusts are common.

It's the perfect spot for one man's unique collection, a spinning menagerie of windmills from as far away as China and Brazil.

Terry Rodman, 69, owns ten acres in Pipestone County, where he's spent more than 20 years creating a towering steel garden with the help of others who learned of his hobby.

"Somebody had said, 'If you want windmills, I've got one,' Rodman said. "Another one said, 'if you want windmills, I got one.' And it just blew up from there."

At last count, Rodman had 35 windmills standing on his property, and parts for another 50 lying in the grass, ready to be repaired and assembled.

"I've got so many windmills to put up and do, I don't think I've got time to die even," he said.

Rodman is a retired welding shop owner, now working to keep these countryside icons out of the scrap heap.

It's a mission that dates back to 1990 when his wife, Kris, asked if he could build a small Dutch windmill in honor of her Dutch heritage. She thought it would be the size of a typical lawn ornament.

Three years later, he finished building a replica windmill that's about three-stories high.

"I didn't really want those little ones," he said. "I told her if we was going to have a windmill, we're going to have a windmill, and I just kept adding. And it got to be 43-feet tall."

It's partly why their yard has become a local tourist attraction.

"We see a lot of people stopping on Highway 23 and just taking it in from a distance," said Kris Rodman.

In the years since, Rodman has collected vintage windmills from around the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Argentina and Australia.

"My wife thinks there should be a pill for this windmill disease," he said.

It's turned out to be just the right hobby for the reality of this region. When life gave him wind gusts, Terry Rodman put up windmills.

"It's a fun feeling knowing that you have made these things, or brought them up from junk," he said. "We didn't know it when we started it, but it's just a fun thing to have people enjoy them like we do."

The Rodmans say they're happy to have people pull into their driveway and take a look. They've even had visitors from Holland.

For more information, you can reach them by calling 507-204-0012, or writing to krodman@frontier.com.

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