Nearly from its beginning, Batavia was an industrial city. Farm implement and windmill factories provided employment for many. The first products manufactured in Batavia (flour, ice, lumber, paper, stone) found markets in Chicago.
Batavia’s significant industries are identified with the following Categories. Click any category from the menu above for the history and involvement of companies from Batavia.
CARL FURNAS & THE FURNAS ELECTRIC COMPANY
In 1931, Carl Furnas left the Allis-Chalmers Co., at West Allis, Wisconsin, where he was assistant general plant manager after twenty-one years with the company.
Working in his basement with his wife, their daughter and two or three assistants, he started the Furnas Electric Company that grew to be one of the nation’s outstanding producers of electric motor controls. The company moved into rented space in West Allis in 1934; and in October 1940, moved to McKee Street in Batavia. The company grew steadily until its products were sold all over the world.
In 1996, the company was merged with a German company and became known as the Siemens-Furnas Controls.