Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located northwest of Chicago along the Fox River. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 114,797, making it the sixth-most populous city in the state.
History
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Black Hawk Indian War of 1832 led to the expulsion of the Native Americans who had settlements and burial mounds in the area and set the stage for the founding of Elgin. Thousands of militiamen and soldiers of Gen. Winfield Scott's army marched through the Fox River valley during the war, and accounts of the area's fertile soils and flowing springs soon filtered east.
In New York, James T. Gifford and his brother Hezekiah Gifford heard tales of this area ripe for settlement, and they traveled west. Looking for a site on the stagecoach route from Chicago to Galena, Illinois, they eventually settled on a spot where the Fox River could be bridged. In April 1835, they established the city, naming it after the Scottish tune "Elgin".
Early Elgin achieved fame for the butter and dairy goods it sold to the city of Chicago. Gail Borden established a condensed milk factory here in 1866, and the local library was named in his honor. The dairy industry became less important with the arrival of the Elgin Watch Company. The watch factory employed three generations of Elginites from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, when it was the largest producer of fine watches in the United States (the factory ceased production in 1965 and was torn down in the summer of 1966) and the operator of the largest watchmaking complex in the world. Today, the clocks at Chicago's Union Station still bear the Elgin name.
From 1910 until 1920, with the exception of the World War I years, the city hosted the Elgin National Road Races, which attracted the top national racing champions as well as many of the major automobile manufacturers. The races were sponsored by the Elgin Watch Company who offered a $1,000 prize and a silver trophy to the winner. Elgin's downtown has also been the center of city renovations and new developments. New townhouses, condo towers, loft spaces, and art galleries have opened in the last decade. In October 2003 the Gail Borden Public Library moved into a new $30 million, 139,980 square foot, 460,000 volume-capacity building, and in August 2009 opened its first-ever satellite branch. The 10,000 square foot Rakow Branch, situated on Elgin's West Side, was LEED registered, and was designed to be expandable up to 30,000 square feet. Elgin opened the 185,000 sq. ft. Centre of Elgin recreation facility across the street from the library. In 2009, Gail Borden was one of five libraries to receive the National Medal for Museum and Library Service issued by the Institute of Museum and Library Services in Washington D.C. In 2014, Elgin completed the Central Business District Streetscape Improvement Project and the Riverside Drive Promenade.
A significant Laotian American community calls Elgin home. Elgin has been a sister city of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, since 1967. Some Laotian Americans have opened stores and restaurants, contributing to the city's cultural diversity. Elgin is also home to a sizable Latino population, contributing to 45.7% of the population in 2020.
Geography
Topography
Elgin is located at (42.0384225, −88.3226510).
Climate
Elgin is in the Hot-summer humid continental climate, or Köppen Dfa zone. The zone includes four distinct seasons. Winter is cold with snow. Spring warms up with precipitation and storms, some of which can be severe and include tornadoes. Summer has high precipitation and storms. Fall cools down.
On March 28, 1920, Elgin was struck by several tornadoes along the Fox River that caused significant damage to Chicago and several western suburbs. Twenty-three people were killed and several businesses and homes were destroyed, including the Opera House and Grant Theater.