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Danish Windmill — Elk Horn

The Danish Windmill in Elk Horn, Iowa: a shingled octagonal mill with red and white sails and a fantail above a white base, under a blue sky.
Artwork FileElk Horn · Iowa

Danish Windmill

SeenFeb 2023

Built 1848 in Nørre Snede, Denmark · rebuilt in Elk Horn 1976

Photo: Smallbones / Wikimedia Commons (public domain), as published on Street Art Utopia. Resized, full frame.

Elk Horn’s Danish Windmill was built in 1848 near Nørre Snede, Denmark. In 1975–76 the town bought it, took it apart and shipped it across the Atlantic; it arrived in February 1976 and about 300 volunteers reassembled it as a Bicentennial project. It stands about 60 feet tall and still grinds grain. Source Source Source Checked

Seen Feb 2023 — Notes on Iowa wrote on 4 February 2023 that the mill still stands. It is a report, not a dated photograph; the newest dated photograph we found is from 12 July 2010, and the operator’s site describes the mill as fully working. Source Reported

💡 4 things to know

  1. Built by Jens OlesenThe windmill’s history page says Jens Olesen built it just north of Nørre Snede in 1848. Source Reported
  2. Bought for $38,000A 1976 Daily Nonpareil photo caption says the Better Elk Horn Club bought the mill for $38,000 and brought it from Denmark. Source Reported
  3. 300 volunteersNotes on Iowa says an estimated 300 volunteers reassembled it in the months after it arrived in February 1976. Source Reported
  4. The last oneThe operator says it is the only working Danish windmill in the United States, and that Denmark banned the export of windmills in 1977. Source Reported

📍 Where it is

4038 Main Street, Elk Horn, Iowa, USA. Source Reported

Open in Maps

The map opens at the address; we have not checked Street View for it.

🗓️ Sightings

  1. 197617 Oct

    Mill almost done · Daily Nonpareil photo

  2. 201012 Jul

    Completed mill photographed · camera date

  3. 20234 Feb

    History of its arrival · Notes on Iowa

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

✅ The facts

Built
1848, near Nørre Snede, Denmark Source Source Source Checked
Arrived in Elk Horn
February 1976 (4 February, according to Notes on Iowa) Source Reported
Reassembled
1976, by an estimated 300 volunteers (more than 300, per the operator) Source Source Checked
Height
About 60 feet; sails about 66 feet across Source Source Checked
Bought by
The Better Elk Horn Club, for $38,000 Source Reported
Use
Working mill; the operator says it can grind over 2 tons of flour a day Source Reported

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Last checked: 13 November 2026 · How we verify art

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