Murphy Windmill, Dutch-style windmill in Golden Gate Park, United States.
Murphy Windmill is a Dutch-style windmill in the western section of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The structure features four wooden sails and stands alongside a companion windmill, and the two together define this part of the park.
Golden Gate Park was planted on sand dunes in the 1870s and 1880s and needed heavy irrigation. In 1902 the Park Commission authorised two windmills to pump groundwater instead of buying water from the Spring Valley Water Company. The Murphy Mill was completed in 1908 and pumped 40,000 US gallons per hour. Electric pumps took over in 1913, the mill fell into ruin by the 1950s, and after restoration plans begun in 2002 it reopened in 2012.
Since 2012 the Dutch community group SF Oranje Comité has held King's Day at the mill each year in late April, with the sails turning under motor. The gathering features old Dutch children's games, a flea market, Dutch food, beer, music and dancing.
Visitors can view the exterior at any time while walking through the park, and the interior is occasionally open during special programs. Plan time to walk around both windmills and explore the surrounding area of the park.
The mill's four sails are turned by a motor rather than by wind, and they are set spinning for the Dutch King's Day celebration held at the end of April, when the SF Oranje Comité fills the site with old Dutch children's games, a flea market, food, beer, music and dancing.
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