| Location: | Palm Beach (Noord district) |
| Period built: | 1961 – ’62 |
| Status: | historical landmark; not protected |
| Ownership: | private |
‘De Olde Molen’ * 1962
Category: Other Districts
‘De Olde Molen’, a landmark with a Touch of Dutch.
Aruba’s first luxury resort was the Aruba Caribbean Hotel. Soon after its opening in 1959, people realized that the island needed more than just luxury resorts to attract visitors. In 1960, two local businessmen, Paalman and Woudenberg, acquired an old mill from Groningen, Holland, with the intention of relocating it to Aruba as a tourist attraction.
The meticulous disassembly of the old mill by millwright Medendorp began in the same year and took four weeks, with the blades being left intact.
In Aruba, a 3,000-square-meter site was reserved opposite the Palm Beach Club, about 500 meters from the Aruba Caribbean Hotel, on the east side of the boulevard.
A building had already been constructed there, which would become a restaurant and also serve as the foundation for the mill.
The bents, windmill mechanisms, and also 2,000 kilograms (4,400 lb) of millstones, totaling 30 tons of load, were transported by ship to commence the reconstruction in Aruba. In order not to disrupt traffic, the entire load was driven to the construction site on a Sunday morning: including sails 22 meters long and the 2,000 kilos of millstones.
The reconstruction efforts received a symbolic start in March 1961 when Lieutenant Governor Beaujon placed the first stone. The reconstruction by millwright Medendorp took seven weeks. The initial plan was to have the sails rotate slowly, but with the risk that the strong wind would cause them to run wild, it was decided to permanently secure them.
The ‘Olde Molen’ was weather-boarded with a new six-meter-elevated wooden stage surrounding the base of the mill. The acquisition, transportation, reconstruction, and establishment of the restaurant collectively required over 175,000 Netherlands Antillian guilders.
By March 1962, construction was complete. In that month the restaurant officially opened; it employed 15 staff. In July 1962, Dutch Princesses Irene and Margriet concluded their visit to Aruba with a dinner at the Olde Molen restaurant.
But business did not always go well at De Olde Molen. In 1965, when the restaurant had been closed for one-and-a-half years due to financial difficulties, it reopened under new management by Karel Schmand and W.A. Strijland, who also managed the floating Bali restaurant in Oranjestad.
In 1973, Joseph Patterson acquired De Olde Molen from K. Schmand and embarked on an extensive restoration project for the windmill. He also adorned the restaurant with furniture and paintings dating from the 9th to the 18th century. In the interior, there are still inscriptions that recall the different previous owners of the mill in the Netherlands.
The history of ‘De Olde Molen’ has been marked by operation difficulties since its opening. Things have improved now and the restaurant is doing well. The immediate vicinity of this landmark is now marked by a tangle of shops and kiosks, next to a hotel complex logically called ‘The Mill Resort’ . . .
