T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY The fundraising committee leading the charge to restore the historic Green Mountain windmill — John Winters, Chase Winters, Mechiele Winters, Casey Madison and Sierra Madison — poses for a photo in front of the structure during the RAGBRAI festivities on Thursday morning.

GREEN MOUNTAIN — For a few hours, the population of the unincorporated Marshall County community of Green Mountain grew exponentially on Thursday morning as thousands of RAGBRAI riders stopped by for breakfast and rest as part of the long journey from Wednesday’s overnight in Marshalltown to Thursday’s in Independence. The sudden influx of visitors provided a unique opportunity for a group of five residents who are leading efforts to restore the village’s historic windmill, which is in need of major repairs with limited funding to do so.

The committee had a booth set up near the fire station explaining their mission, and Heart of Iowa Communications was handing out water while accepting free will donations for the windmill. One of the committee members, John Winters, explained that the windmill was destroyed in a 2011 storm and has only gotten worse during subsequent weather events. The estimated cost of repairs is as high as $12,000, and according to Winters, it will require taking the gearbox apart, putting new bearings in and replacing the blades.

“We’ve got some where they don’t go as extensive that would be less, but we can only do what we can do,” Winters said. “There’s a lot of work, and what they’ll do is they told me they’ll unbolt it, crane it on the ground, take it apart, fix it, put it back together and then crane it back standing up.”

Even streetlights, he added, sometimes require donations from residents to cover their costs, so the windmill unfortunately has not taken top priority over more essential items and services. On Thursday, the committee accepted cash donations and Venmo (@Sierra-Winters-9 or @Mechiele-Winters), and checks can also be mailed to 305 Green Mountain Road, Green Mountain, IA 50632, payable to John Winters.

Winters, who has lived in the community for 22 years, reflected on what restoring the windmill would mean for Green Mountain as riders continued to trickle in for water and breakfast, and Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock n’ Roll” blared over a speaker system.

“I think it would mean a lot. We have no hard confirmation, but in the 1800s — we were founded in the late 1800s — this used to run the water (for) all the houses. They’d come up with buckets,” he said. “And then your fire trucks… they would bring the fire truck up, fill it and then head off to your fire. And it was all run by this windmill.”

The booth near the fire station also featured an informative display on the great Green Mountain Trainwreck of 1910.

Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.