Celebrate Batavia's historical windmills at symposium

Submitted by Batavia Public Library

Every Batavian, history buff and school kid is invited to join in the landmarking celebration of Batavia's famous windmills.

Join the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and local officials at a special ceremony during which ASME will officially designate 17 Batavia windmills — all authentically reconstructed according to their pioneering designs — as landmarks of engineering history.

The ceremony is the first event of the Batavia Public Library's daylong Batavia Windmill Symposium. It will be at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at the library, 10 S. Batavia Ave. Registration required at www.BataviaPublicLibrary.org.

The Batavia Windmill Symposium with the theme, “Batavia's Place in Windmill History” will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

T. Lindsay Baker, of Rio Vista, Texas, will speak on the American windmill story and Batavia's significance in windmill history, a New Lyceum Lecture Series program from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.

From 1:30 to 2:45 p.m., Christopher Gillis of Frederick, Md., discusses two windmill industry pioneers whose careers began at Batavia's U.S. Wind Engine and how together they started Aermotor, one of the most influential windmill companies in the country.

Batavia's own windmill collectors and historians Bob Popeck and Francine McGuire-Popeck explain the windmill industry's economic impact on Batavia in the late 1800s from 3 to 4:15 p.m.

Also, take a self-guided tour of Batavia's windmills.

Register online at BataviaPublicLibrary.org or call (630) 879-1393, ext. 200.