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Grain grinding was the first documented wind mill application and was very straightforward. The grinding stone was affixed to the same vertical shaft. The mill machinery was commonly enclosed in a building, which also featured a wall or shield to block the incoming wind from slowing the side of the drag-type rotor that advanced toward the wind.
 As early as 1390, the Dutch set out to refine the tower mill design, which had appeared somewhat earlier along the Mediterranean Sea. The Dutch essentially affixed the standard post mill to the top of a multi-story tower, with separate floors devoted to grinding grain, removing chaff, storing grain, and (on the bottom) living quarters for the windsmith and his family. Both the post mill and the later tower mill design had to be oriented into the wind manually, by pushing a large lever at the back of the mill. Optimizing windmill energy and power output and protecting the mill from damage by furling the rotor sails during storms were among the windsmith's primary jobs.
At one time, some 10,000 windmills dotted the lowlands of Holland, which were used for distributing water, draining the polders, and grinding corn. About 1,000 windmills still survive, of which perhaps only 200 are still working, mostly for preservation's sake, for reasons of nostalgia and aesthetics.
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