This site was home to one of the world’s largest and most prosperous manufacturers of American-style windmills, run by waterpower, which at one time claimed to produce 107 different windmills.

In 1867, Nelson Burr and Hugh M. Armstrong organized the company to produce the Burr feed mill and the newly patented Nichols’ Wind Mill. In 1872, the company reorganized as the Challenge Mill Company, introduced the Challenge Sectional Wheel and Double Header windmills, and prospered. A Double Header was a featured exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 and is one of the most impressive windmills ever produced.

The company also produced engines, pumps, farm implements, and decorative items, as well as tanks and other components for water systems. In 1882, the firm name changed to the Challenge Wind Mill and Feed Mill Company until 1905, when it was shortened to the Challenge Company.

The Challenge 27 was the last top-of-the-line windmill produced (1927–1940s) by the Challenge Company, which was sold to Batavia Metal Products Company in 1945. The property was purchased by the Universal Trailer Company in 1950 and, since 1955, was leased for a variety of industrial uses. The “Challenge Properties” were renovated in the early 1990s to expand their reach to commercial, professional, and retail business use.