Batavia vs. West Chicago
Windmills vs. Railroad Tracks: The Tri-City Border Skirmish
Batavia is the Fox River postcard town that wants you to know it has a Riverwalk, while West Chicago is the scrappy railroad junction next door with a name that makes everyone assume it's Chicago. One has limestone charm and the other has freight trains, and only one of them blocks your commute.
In this corner
Batavia
3
And in this corner
West Chicago
1
- Round 1HISTORY
BataviaSurvives
Batavia built windmills to help settle the American West, then spent a century and a half parking 17 of them by the river like retired athletes at a memorial. Its famous export was a machine that spins in the wind and goes nowhere.
West Chicago
West Chicago brags about being the first Illinois community established by the railroads, which is a polite way of saying it was founded as a spot where trains stopped so people could go somewhere better. It was America's first railroad junction west of Chicago, and the town has been waiting at the crossing ever since.
Windmills got a federal engineering landmark designation, and a junction gets a gate arm. Batavia wins on trophies.
- Round 2GEOGRAPHY
BataviaSurvives
Batavia sits on the Fox River with a Peace Bridge, a Riverwalk, and a limestone quarry turned public pool, because it couldn't just have a normal pool like the rest of us. It is also the oldest city in Kane County and acts like it at every dinner party.
West Chicago
West Chicago is not in Chicago, not even close, and has spent its whole existence explaining that to delivery drivers. It sits at the western edge of DuPage County along Route 59, which is less a location than a traffic report.
One town has a river and the other has an identity crisis in its own name. Batavia survives easily.
- Round 3VIBES
Batavia
Batavia's median home price is around $380K for the privilege of strolling past a windmill with an oat-milk latte, and the 'City of Energy' slogan comes from the particle lab down the road. It's the kind of town where the scariest thing is the HOA email.
West ChicagoSurvives
West Chicago's big pitch is an annual art banner exhibit downtown and a community art gallery, which is adorable and also what you say when the Michelin guide doesn't call. Its natural highlight is the Illinois Prairie Path, a gravel trail that was once a railroad and still hasn't forgiven anyone.
Batavia is so thoroughly roasted for its snootiness that West Chicago's scrappy banners and gravel trail come out looking humble. Upset by authenticity.
- Round 4CULTURE
BataviaSurvives
Batavia's cultural peak is a depot museum in a restored train station and a downtown full of boutiques in old factory buildings. Locals will tell you the windmill factories were 'a whole thing' before the Tri-City neighbors in Geneva and St. Charles stole the spotlight.
West Chicago
West Chicago's culture is a forest preserve tour, a golf club, and Kline Creek Farm, a place where you can watch someone churn butter on a field trip. It's a town where the most exciting event is a trail cleanup and the most dramatic is a Garys Mill Road resurfacing.
Both towns peaked in the 1800s, but Batavia at least built a museum to prove it. A road resurfacing is not culture.
The verdict
Batavia wins, 3–1.
Batavia wins, and West Chicago should take solace in the fact that nobody has ever been stuck behind a windmill, only a freight train at Route 59.
Who really won?
The judge has spoken. Now you do.
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