Batavia, Illinois is home to Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the world-renowned energy physics laboratory named after Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi. The city has a population of 25,153, and is the oldest city in Kane County. Nicknamed the Windmill City because of the half-dozen companies in Batavia that...
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Batavia, Illinois is home to Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the world-renowned energy physics laboratory named after Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi. The city has a population of 25,153, and is the oldest city in Kane County. Nicknamed the Windmill City because of the half-dozen companies in Batavia that once produced wind-powered mills, the town is a part of the Batavia-Geneva-St. Charles tri-cities area, and straddles the Fox River in the heart of the Fox River Valley.
Batavia became famous more than a century ago following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln when his widow, Mary Todd Lincoln, spent three months in Batavia's Bellevue Place, a sanitarium and rest home for the mentally ill. Batavia is also known as the birthplace of the flat-bottomed paper bag, and the nation's annual observance of Flag Day is credited to a Batavia dentist named Bernard J. Cigrand.
Today, Batavia contains more than 200 different manufacturing, research and warehousing firms. It is served by Batavia School District 101, consisting of one high school, a middle school and six elementary schools, and is ranked as one of the most educationally advanced systems in the state. Students consistently score higher than the national average in basic skills testing, and most score above the national average in vocabulary, reading, language, and math. More than 80 percent of Batavia's high school students continue their education at a college or university.
The Batavia Public Library is housed in an attractive Colonial building near the downtown business district. It offers lectures for adults, preschool story times, and summertime programs for children.
Residents can also visit the nearby 1,888-seat Paramount Arts Center in Aurora, and play some golf at one of the 14 courses in the Fox Valley area. Batavia's 18-hole Settler's Hill golf course is a favorite of area residents. Festivals and other events are also popular with residents. These include the Loyalty Day Parade in May; the Mid-American Canoe Race and Heritage Arts Festival in June; the annual Fourth of July celebration, coupled with the Taste of Batavia; the Windmill City Fest, Octoberfest activities, and many other events.
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