Murphy Windmill

The Murphy Windmill was born out of a desperate struggle against the landscape. Before the park existed, this area was a desolate stretch of shifting sand dunes that local experts thought could never support life. To turn those dunes into a green space, the city needed massive amounts of water, but the private water company charged such exorbitant fees that the park directors decided to take matters into their own hands. They looked at the relentless Pacific winds battering the coast and realized they had an endless, free power source right in front of them.