Batavia is part of a
vernacular region known as the
Tri-City area, along with
St. Charles and
Geneva, all western suburbs of similar size and relative socioeconomic condition.
[6]
During the latter part of the 19th century, Batavia, home to six American-style
windmill manufacturing companies, became known as "The Windmill City."
[4] Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, a federal government-sponsored high-energy physics laboratory, where both the
bottom quark and the
top quark were first detected, is located just east of the city limits.
Batavia () is a city mainly in
Kane County and partly in
DuPage County in the
U.S. state of
Illinois. Located in the
Chicago metropolitan area, it was founded in 1833 and is the oldest city in Kane County.
[4] Per the
2020 census, the population was 26,098.
[5]About Batavia, Illinois
Batavia was settled in 1833 by Christopher Payne and his family. Originally called Big Woods for the wild growth throughout the settlement, the town was renamed by local judge and former Congressman Isaac Wilson in 1840 after his former home of Batavia, New York. Because Judge Wilson owned the majority of the town, he was given permission to rename it.
Batavia's settlement was delayed one year by the Black Hawk War, in which Abraham Lincoln was a citizen soldier, and Zachary Taylor and Jefferson Davis were Army officers. Although there is no direct evidence that Lincoln, Taylor, or Davis visited the future site of Batavia, there are writings by Lincoln that refer to "Head of the Big Woods," Batavia's original name. The city was incorporated on July 27, 1872.
After the death of her husband, Mary Todd Lincoln was an involuntary resident of the Batavia Institute on May 20, 1875. At the time the institute was known as Bellevue Place, a sanitarium for women. Mrs. Lincoln was released four months later on September 11, 1875. In the late 19th century, Batavia was a major manufacturer of the Conestoga wagons used in the country's westward expansion. Into the early 20th century, most of the windmill operated waterpumps in use by America's farms were made at one of three windmill manufacturing companies in Batavia. Many of the limestone buildings of these factories remain in use as government and commercial offices, and storefronts. The Aurora Elgin and Chicago Railway constructed a power plant in southern Batavia and added a branch to the city in 1902. The Campana Factory was built in 1936 to manufacture cosmetics for The Campana Company, particularly Italian Balm, the nation's best-selling hand lotion at the time.