Wind Power Museum: Lubbock, TX

On my last day in Lubbock we finished a little early.  I can't get an earlier flight so I decide to run by the American Window Power Center and Museum before I go to the airport.  I have seen it from the outside, when I visited Prairie Dog Town, and I think it is worth a look inside.

If the name didn't give it away, this is a museum dedicated to windmills.

Normal windmills.

Unusual windmills.

Conjoined twin windmills.

And modern ones.  This one actually provides 100% of the power used by the museum according to their brochure.

I am drawn to the sound of this one turning.  There isn't a busy road nearby and not a lot of other noises so the sound of this turning dominates the parking lot.  And the windmills don't stop here...for $5 you can tour the display inside which promises 100 more.

I won't be fighting a crowd in there.  One of those 3 cars belongs to me.

From the outside, it is a little hard to imagine that there will be 100 windmills inside.  

Now I believe it.

They spice up the displays with a variety of additions.

Tiny dinosaurs and windmills, makes sense to me.

Livestock

There is a section dedicated to tornado damage.  I was in a tornado not too far down the road in Floydada, Texas when I was 14.  Having lived in Tornado Alley my whole life and having seen the movie Twister, I can tell you this...

I don't want to be anywhere NEAR this building if a tornado comes.

In addition to the windmills, there is a large room attached where you can host an event.  Apparently this is a favorite for weddings and wedding receptions.  There is a very large mural and a special stained glass window.

I could totally make this after my class earlier this week.

The mural titled Legacy of the Wind painted in acrylic by LaGina Fairbetter is 34 feet by 172 feet according to the website but:

The plaque says something different.  Either way, it's big.

The woman working the cash register and gift shop tells me about one of the windmills outside and says to be sure and go out to it.  This windmill is The Flowerdew Hundred Postmill.  This windmill commemorates the first windmill built in North America.

That was in 1621, "The year I was born," the woman tells me.

This stop was worth the $5 and hour of my life I spent here.  In fact, I only have one complaint about the American Wind Power Center and Museum:  no air-conditioning.