This site on North Island Avenue was home to Batavia’s circus grounds and athletic fields until the arrival of the Appleton Manufacturing Company in 1901. The company was organized in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1872 to manufacture farm implements. The Van Nortwick family acquired the company in 1883 and moved the operation in 1894 to a site north of Batavia, Illinois.

In 1895, Appleton Manufacturing Company began producing windmills by purchasing the Goodhue Wind Engine Company of St. Charles. After the factory complex was destroyed by fire in November 1900, the company rebuilt at this location in 1901, where it continued manufacturing farm implements and windmills through World War II.

Reorganized as Appleton Holding Company (1946–1965), it leased its North Island Avenue property to several manufacturers, prominent among them Pharma-Craft Corporation, Crosley Corporation, Celine Inc., DK Manufacturing Company, Dunbar Kapple Inc., and DK Aerospace Company. Batavia Enterprises Inc. then acquired the property, which it sold to the City of Batavia in August 1973.

This site now encompasses the Batavia Riverwalk, the Jeffery D. Schielke Government Center (in the remaining 1901 building), the Flag Day Monument, and Riverain Point Apartments.