Menke Mill Südlohn

The octagonal Dutch mill was built in 1812. In 1865, Johann Bernhard Menke acquired the mill with the miller's house. The mill's drive has changed several times over the decades in light of technological development. (Wind power, first steam engine in 1876, diesel engine in 1951). Since 1985, the windmill has been a listed building, and since 1995, the entire technical equipment, the outbuildings, and the miller's house have also been protected. After the death of the last miller, Bernhard Menke (1989), no more production took place. However, the entire facility (developed area approx. 750 sqm) has been maintained since then - the windmill, partly with original equipment and complete fine milling facility from 1934, the sawmill with the Petermann broad thresher from 1914 and the saw (full frame) from 1917, then the steam mill (restored in 2015) with grinding and mixing machine and 110 Volt direct current system, the adjacent boiler house, and the steam engine house rebuilt in 2012 with a Maier steam engine that completes the facility. After steam power, in 1951, a Herford single-cylinder diesel engine (year of manufacture 1939) brought diesel power to Menke mill. In addition, another Herford (year of manufacture 1956) was added in 1968. These were used to drive the machines and to generate electrical energy for electric motors, e.g., for the saw frame. As luck would have it, the mill was to receive another Herford (year of manufacture 1936) in 2016, which was saved from being scrapped. For this purpose, the engine room was enlarged and remodeled. That it is a "living" mill is largely thanks to Dieter Gehling, who came to the mill as a technology-enthusiastic fifteen-year-old in 1980. He learned to handle the old technology from the last miller, Bernhard Menke. The entire equipment is operational.

The mill received the "Anneliese-Schücking Prize" from the DGM in 1998 and the "Sümmermann Prize" in 2000. The stages of development – wind, steam, and then diesel power – are absolutely comprehensible here.

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