Hi Davidson
Did you see this article in the South Bend Tribune ?
©South Bend Tribune -- July 4, 1999
Jack Perkins occasionally runs across rebuilt or restored pieces from old
Perkins Wind Mill Co. products.
Photo provided
Uniroyal site once included windmill company
By DEANNA CSOMO MCCOOL
Tribune Staff Writer
MISHAWAKA--Entrepreneurs who arrived in the 1860s in what's now downtown
Mishawaka were greeted with dense, thick forests.
The trees took over the landscape along the river, and poplar and walnut
trees were perfect for making items like ax handles.
And, of course, windmills.
As the city looks at the dawning of a new age with the planned redevelopment
of the Uniroyal site, Jack Perkins of South Bend points out that it can't
forget the companies the city was built around.
One of those businesses is the Perkins Wind Mill Co., which was founded by
Jack Perkins' great-great-uncles, Palmer and Pardon.
Jack Perkins and his wife, Muriel, went to one of the town hall meetings last
year in which residents voiced opinions about redevelopment of the 43 acres
along the river.
Perkins didn't go to talk about the future.
"I got tired that they were all called Uniroyal buildings," Perkins said.
"They've even forgotten about Ball Band."
His family's buildings were located just east of Main Street at the river's
edge, and one of the buildings is still standing--though not for long, since
demolition is expected to start this fall.
Palmer Perkins established the company, first making axes, in 1869. He was
joined by his twin brother, Pardon, in 1871.
"The idea was to use the water power back there; it was all driven by the
river," Perkins said.
The company switched direction and thrived, selling 10- and 20-foot windmills
throughout the country, and later manufacturing gasoline engines.
Perkins, who's 90, doesn't remember much about the windmill company because
it closed in Mishawaka in 1926, then moved to South Bend in 1929.
Once electricity became widespread, the need for windmills wasn't the same.
"My father worked for the windmill company when he was a teen-ager," Perkins
said. "There was quite a lot going on in those days; I'm sure they knew the
Olivers, the Studebakers."
Perkins, however, has remained interested in windmills himself, subscribing
to a publication called the Windmill Gazette.
He's received letters from people in recent years who still think the
windmill company is open, Muriel Perkins said.
"In Third World countries, they were trying to set up reorganization of
life," she said, adding that many people were looking for windmills. "(The
letters) all came from Africa, the Bahamas, all places like that."
"I responded to all of them," Jack Perkins said. "I told them that Perkins
disappeared in the 1920s" but he gave them names of other windmill companies.
Perkins said he's always wanted to go back into the old Perkins building to
look around.
"But I know they hope to have them all torn down," Perkins said, adding that
he trusts Mayor Robert C. Beutter's plans for redevelopment.
Still, there was a treasure from the former Perkins building he would like to
have.
"I heard there's a brass plate between the doors of two buildings that has
the Perkins name on it," he said.
Perkins heard correctly, said Mishawaka Economic Development Director Jeff
Rea. However, Rea believes that plate was removed by a Uniroyal employee with
the last name of Perkins.
Maybe that bit of the past, if it's still in the area, will be returned to
Jack Perkins.
It's unlikely he'll be in Mishawaka when the building is demolished. He and
his wife are moving to Princeton, N.J., next month to be closer to their
children there.
After 45 years in the same house and a lifetime in South Bend and Mishawaka,
leaving will be bittersweet.
"I'd like to come back someday and see what they're up to," Perkins
said.
I hope this helps.
Sandy Woolson
Van Nuys, CA