{"nrhp_refnum":"79000843","name":"Dutch Mill","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"N of Batavia off IL 25","address_restricted":false,"city":"Batavia","county":"Kane County","state":"IL","lat":41.871531911000034,"lon":-88.30545778499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-06-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A sixty-eight foot Dutch smock windmill in Fabyan Park Forest Preserve, west of Illinois Route 25 near Batavia, Kane County, Illinois. Built around 1860 in DuPage County and moved to its present site after Colonel George Fabyan bought it in 1914.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an example of the rare art of wooden windmill construction and as a Dutch-type grist mill, uncommon in a country where grain was usually milled by water power. Its interior and exterior features interest students of technology and architecture. It is also one of few American follies, and one of few in Illinois.","narrative":"Rising sixty-eight feet in Fabyan Park Forest Preserve near Batavia, Illinois, this Dutch smock windmill was built around 1860 on York Road in DuPage County. In a smock mill, only the cap holding the wind shaft turns to face the wind. Colonel George Fabyan, a wealthy Geneva merchant, inventor and cryptographer, bought it in poor condition on October 15, 1914, for $8,000 and spent about $70,000 moving and restoring it. The shingled exterior has small dormers, and the interior is oak, cypress and black walnut, joined with glued wooden dowels instead of nails. Roman numerals carved into the larger timbers guided reassembly. Grain was ground by wind power here as late as 1920. The mill is valued as a rare example of wooden windmill construction in a country that usually milled grain with water power, and as one of few American follies, a structure built to enhance a landscape. Today the fan is fixed in place and the mill does not operate.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Dutch smock mill","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good, unaltered condition; the fan blades and bracing mechanism are fixed in place, so the mill does not operate. It is kept locked but can be opened on request.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.935341-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/8/8931/28893108/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/79000843.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000843/d42e2a8453-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000843/d42e2a8453-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jauerback","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fabyan_Windmill-13.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Jauerback</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fabyan_Windmill-13.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893108","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabyan_Windmill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5428280"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/kane-county/dutch-mill-79000843/"}