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. The races contributed significantly to the development of the modern automobile.
Elgin has a long tradition of education and invention. Elgin was formerly home to the Elgin Academy, the oldest coeducational, non-sectarian college preparatory school west of the Allegheny Mountains. Its buildings have since been purchased by the Burhan Academy, an Islamic K–12 school billed as "the largest in North America". Elgin High School boasts five Navy admirals, a Nobel Prize winner, a Pulitzer Prize winner, a Tony Award winner, two Academy Award-winning producers, Olympic athletes and a General Motors CEO among its alumni. Elgin resident John Murphy invented the motorized streetsweeper in 1914 and later formed the Elgin Sweeper Corporation. Pioneering African-American chemist Lloyd Hall was an Elgin native, as was the legendary marketer and car stereo pioneer Earl "Madman" Muntz; and Max Adler, founder of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, America's first planetarium.
In the 1990s, Elgin became one of the few cities in northern Illinois to host a riverboat casino. The Grand Victoria Casino initially generated controversy, but went on to be a significant source of income for the city. Drawing nearly four million people annually, as of March 2005 it was the fifth most popular tourist attraction in Illinois. The Grand Victoria Foundation, to which the casino had contributed an amount in excess of $116 million, provides community grants to nonprofits in the city. In the years since, more casinos have opened in the area and the Grand Victoria Casino had seen attendance and revenue decline.
In 2013, Elgin ranked number one in the Chicago metropolitan area in new home starts while ranking second in new home closings. 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).
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Elgin has a total area of , of which (or 98.52%) is land and (or 1.48%) is water.
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.
Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 114,797 people, 36,825 households, and 26,310 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 40,530 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 43.42% White, 6.60% African American, 2.40% Native American, 6.48% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 24.33% from other races, and 16.69% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 47.44% of the population.
There were 36,825 households, out of which 37.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.29% were married couples living together, 13.59% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.55% were non-families. 24.15% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.43% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.60 and the average family size was 2.99.
The city's age distribution consisted of 26.6% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $72,999, and the median income for a family was $82,334. Males had a median income of $41,402 versus $30,037 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,423. About 8.8% of families and 10.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.4% of those under age 18 and 6.5% of those age 65 or over.
+Elgin city, Illinois – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 2000Pop 2010% 2000% 2010White alone (NH)50,83146,08942,26153.80%42.60%36.81%Black or African American alone (NH)6,1007,4677,2076.46%6.90%6.28%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)1351441500.14%0.13%0.13%Asian alone (NH)3,6005,6757,2853.81%5.25%6.35%Pacific Islander alone (NH)1419270.01%0.02%0.02%Other race alone (NH)721153920.08%0.11%0.34%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)1,3051,5583,0151.38%1.44%2.63%Hispanic or Latino (any race)32,43047,12154,46034.32%43.55%47.44%Total94,487108,188114,797100.00%100.00%100.00%
Economy According to Elgin's 2018 Comprehensive Plan, the top employers in the city are:
# Employer # of Employees 1 Elgin Area School District U46 4,3292 J.P. Morgan Chase 2,5003 Advocate Sherman Hospital 2,0944 John B. Sanfilippo (Fisher Nuts) 1,7425 Provena Saint Joseph Hospital 1,3496 Elgin Community College 1,0647 Grand Victoria Casino 8008 Elgin Mental Health Center 7509 American NTN Bearing 67510 City of Elgin 65911 Motorola Solutions 40012 Communication Test Design Inc 312
Arts and culture
Elgin is home to the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. Other classical music groups include the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Master Chorale, and the Elgin Children's Chorus. Outdoor music can be heard at the Wing Park Bandshell. Theatre groups include the Janus Theatre Company, Elgin Theatre Company, the Independent Players, Children's Theatre of Elgin, Fox Valley Theatre Company, The Home Creative Company, and Nothing Special Productions. Together, The Hemmens Cultural Center and Elgin Community College's Visual & Performing Arts Center host dozens of performances a year by performers ranging from Chicago's Hubbard Street Dance Company to comedian Bill Maher.
After losing many landmark businesses in the 1980s, downtown Elgin experienced a renaissance in the 1990s with the arrival of the Grand Victoria riverboat casino and improvement in the local economy. Many historic buildings have been transformed into stylish clubs and restaurants.
Architecture
The city was known for its historic architecture and landmarks from the Victorian era, including some fine examples of homes in the Queen Anne style. Many of the most remarkable homes once belonged to National Watch Company executives. Many interesting Sears Catalog Homes arrived in Elgin as kits from 1908 to 1940. The Elgin Tower Building and the Elgin Professional Building are two large towers constructed in Elgin's heyday, before the Great Depression. The Tower Building was recently renovated, converting it to residential apartments.
Predating Victorian homes were homes made of native cobblestone. It was believed that Elgin had at one time the largest concentration of cobblestone homes outside of Rochester, New York. Several such homes built by the earliest settlers still stand. They can be seen in Elgin's historic districts, two of which are recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.
The Elgin Public Museum at Lords Park was the oldest building in Illinois built expressly as a museum that was still serving that purpose.
Open Elgin is a free, self guided tour of downtown Elgin's architecture. Each April, over two dozen buildings are accessible on the tour, though the event has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The nine-member Elgin Heritage Commission promotes historic preservation activity. The Gifford Park Association was also active in historic preservation, and conducts a popular annual house tour.
Parks and recreation Elgin's city parks include Lords Park, which features the Elgin Public Museum and a small zoo featuring a herd of American bison, and Wing Park, which includes a golf course and outdoor swimming pool. Other golf courses within Elgin include the Highlands of Elgin, the Elgin Country Club, and Bowes Creek Country Club. The Centre of Elgin, which among other features includes an aquatic park and a climbing wall, remains one of the largest municipal recreation centers in the United States. The Elgin Sports Complex on the city's southwest side offers ten lighted ballfields, ten soccer fields and The Hill BMX track. The complex hosts several local, regional and national tournaments every year. Elgin connects to Algonquin and Dundee to the north, and St. Charles, Geneva, and Batavia to the south by the Fox River Trail bike path.