The Schiedam Windmills Foundation has ambitious plans for the future. Not only will the Foundation concentrate on the preservation of the five existing windmills. De Babbersmolen (Babbers windmill), which is located on the edge of the town along the Poldervaart, has recently been bought. In the coming years it will be completely restored.

Apart from restoring De Babbersmolen the Foundation intends to rebuild windmill De Kameel (The Camel) on the Doeleplein (Doele square). For the realisation of these projects, the Schiedam Windmills Foundation works closely together with various partners in Schiedam.

De Babbersmolen
The 10th of April 2003 was a very special day! After more than two and a half years of negotiating with the city council of Schiedam, the deed of purchase for the Babbersmolen could be signed!
On this day the Schiedam Windmills Foundation became the owner of the stump and the watercourses of the windmill.

De Babbersmolen (1710) is located along the Poldervaart in an area containing allotments called “De Vijfsluizen”. Its function was to drain the Babberspolder. To improve the windsail, the height of the windmill was increased in 1888 by three metres. This was necessary, because of the construction of the dike for the railway which obstructed the wind when it was blowing from a northwesterly direction. De Babbersmolen also got a railing, which in 1924 was broken down. The sails and the machinery inside were removed.

From that moment onwards De Babbersmolen operated by means of an engine. In this period an advertisement for Quaker Oats was painted on the windmill. During the Second World War the smiling face of the Quaker had to be painted over. The Germans regarded the Quaker as a symbol of the enemy. Four generations of the Post family were in charge of the windmill from 1875 onwards. For many years even two miller’s families lived in the windmill.

In the 1970’s De Babbersmolen was bought by the municipality of Schiedam. The windmill was no longer in a good condition. In1980 De Babbersmolen became the new home for lost and injured birds which was run by the regional office of the Royal Dutch Natural History Association.

Now that De Babbersmolen is owned by the Schiedam Windmills Foundation, a start can be made with the complete reconstruction and restoration.

De Kameel (The Camel)
The Schiedam Windmills Foundation has come up with an ambitious plan to rebuild windmill De Kameel. The first steps have already been taken: the location of the new windmill has been marked on the zoning plan for the town centre. The windmill will be rebuilt on the Doeleplein (Doele square).

Windmill De Kameel (1715-1868) was built to grind grain for the distilleries. The windmill had a grotto which is unique. It was located on the western side of the Noordvestgracht near to where the Noordvestgracht meets the river Schie.

Unfortunately De Kameel encountered disasters of various kinds. In 1861 one of the workers from a nearby distillery fell into the water close to the windmill and drowned. In 1865, during an easterly gale, the windmill first lost a piece of a stock, and then lost the iron windshaft and the entire cap together with all its machinery. What was left of the windmill was sold in April 1865 to Mr. P.J. Kramers who set up a saw-mill. The damaged parts of the windmill were removed and the top was covered by a roof. Only five floors remained.

In 1866 a fire broke out in the saw-mill. The fire spread rapidly, but luckily it could be extinguished quickly. A year later the Schiedam city council decided to buy the windmill, which it was said “presented everybody (also from the train) with such a ghastly sight for a considerable time”. In the following year De Kameel was broken down.

At the beginning of the year 2000 the Schiedam Windmills Foundation talked seriously for the first time about rebuilding windmill De Kameel. The original location could not be chosen for the new windmill. The reason for this was that in 1960 the corner where the Noordvestgracht meets the Schie had been altered in order to create space for boats to turn. For this reason the Doeleplein (Doele square) was chosen. In the coming months a plan for rebuilding the windmill will be drawn up including a detailed proposal for financing the project.