Company history.

The Adriaens mill-building company has provided seven generations of the family with a livelihood by building and renovating mills driven by wind or by water wheels. Without Aranius Adriaens (1722 - 1788) being aware of this, this craftsman specialized in making wheels for carts, laid the company foundations. Because agriculture was an important source of income in the area around his homestead in Weert in the south of the Netherlands, this area was rich in windmills. Whenever a miller had problems with the moving parts of his equipment, the wheelwright Aranius would offer his services.
There is no doubt that he was fascinated by the mills' impressive gear work: perfect technology by the standards of those days.

Gradually Aranius changed over to working on mills, dragging his son Henricus (1760 - 1820) along in his wake. The love for the trade of millwright was inherited by Henricus' son Petrus (1792 - 1867), who went by the nickname of "mill-master" in Weert and surrounding areas.

Petrus' son was Joannes Hubertus (1833 - 1903). During his lifetime he not only brought the mill-building company to great heights, but his building contractor's business was also very well known in the local area.

Joannes Hubertus fathered four children: Jannes, Willem, Maria and Hubertus. Three of them died as infants. Only his son Willem (1877 - 1958) survived. Driven by a deep-rooted love of the trade he remained loyal to mill-building, although there was little demand for this specialism in his lifetime.

He had many children, four of whom were sons: Hubert (1907), Willy (1920), Jan (1922) and Sjors (1924). Hubert died in 1995, still an independent millwright, after having worked hard on mills and their upkeep virtually all his life. His much younger brother Willy only lived to the age of 19. He fell victim to a fatal accident while renovating the "de Brak" mill in Sluis, the Netherlands.

After Willem died in 1958, his youngest son Sjors managed to keep his ancestors' millwright business alive and turn it into a flourishing enterprise, making clever use of the means and opportunities of the time. He was assisted by his brother Jan. Even today, they are still intensively involved in the mill-building business.

By the late 1980's they put Wim Adriaens and Paul van den Bercken, Sjors' eldest son and son-in-law, in charge of the company. Since then, they, together with Sjors' second son Ron, have been responsible for the business operations of Adriaens Molenbouw Weert B.V., where nine well-motivated and skilled staff are currently employed.
In addition to mill-building, the company specializes in specific timber structures.





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