Batavia’s collection of “Self-Regulating Windmills, 1863–1951” was designated as an Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 2013 by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Batavia’s first windmill manufacturer produced the Halladay Standard, the first commercially successful self-governing windmill in the United States, and the invention that launched the American windmill manufacturing industry. Invented in 1854 by Daniel Halladay and originally manufactured by Halladay, McCray and Company in Ellington, Connecticut, the firm later became the Halladay Wind Mill Company and relocated to South Coventry, Connecticut.

John Burnham, who had encouraged Halladay to develop a self-governing mill, moved to Chicago in 1857 and organized the U.S. Wind Engine and Pump Company to sell the mills made in Connecticut to the growing market in the American West. Among the incorporators were John Van Nortwick and Smith L. Mallory of Batavia. In 1863, the company purchased the Halladay Wind Mill Company and moved its manufacturing operations to Batavia.

From 1863 to 1951, seven companies produced windmills in Batavia—U.S. Wind Engine and Pump Company, The Challenge Company, Batavia Manufacturing Company, Benjamin Danforth, Batavia Wind Mill Company, Appleton Manufacturing Company, and Snow Manufacturing Company— inspiring Batavia’s nickname, “The Windmill City.”