U.S. Wind Engine & Pump Co. fairly crowed the Halladay name in this chromolithograph advertising poster (printed in about 1876). By then, U.S. Wind Engine was producing Halladay windmills at its facilities in Batavia, Ill. This poster was apparently shipped to Pennsylvania where it promoted the business of local Halladay agent D.N. Lefever, Neffsville, Pa. The image shows highly detailed illustrations of the magnificent wooden windmills of the era.
Invented by Daniel Halladay in 1854, the Halladay Standard was the first commercially successful self-governing windmill manufactured in the U.S. The first maker of the mill in 1854 was the firm of Halladay, McCray & Co., Ellington, Conn. Partners in the company were inventor Daniel Halladay, John Burnham and Henry McCray.
Later that year Halladay Wind Mill Co. was organized to take the place of the original firm and manufacture of the mills was shifted to South Coventry, Conn. Finding only limited sales for the mills in New England, John Burnham moved to Chicago in 1857 to market the mills on the plains and prairies. With other investors, he organized U.S. Wind Engine & Pump Co. to sell mills manufactured in Connecticut. That arrangement persisted for half a dozen years until, in 1863, U.S. Wind Engine & Pump Co. purchased Halladay Wind Mill Co. and moved its manufacturing equipment to Batavia, where the mills were produced for the next six decades.
By 1881, U.S. Wind Engine & Pump Co. was the largest institution of its kind in the world. The company existed until World War II, when the plant was purchased by the Batavia Metal Products Co., a firm organized to produce war materiel for the federal government. FC
Grateful acknowledgement is given to David Schnakenberg, who contributed this image from his collection of pre-1910 chromolithographs of farm machinery advertising. For more information, contact him at 10108 Tamarack Dr., Vienna, VA 22182; (703) 938-8606; dschnakenberg@verizon.net; view the Schnakenberg Collection.