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City
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1854
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Illinois
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Kane & Cook
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Elgin Township & Hanover Township
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Council-manager
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Mayor
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Ed Schock
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94,487
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up
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2269
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1990
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1,4593
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3,7791
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7049
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680
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3432
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388
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006
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040
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1539
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60120, 60121, 60122, 60123
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847 & 224
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647
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250
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42
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222
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88
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1719
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21,112
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23074
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52,605
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138,500 (2000)
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229,300 ( 2005 )
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cityofelginorg
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(pronounced (
IPA )) is a city 40 mi. (64.5 km) northwest of
Chicago, Illinois on the
Fox River . Most of Elgin lies within
Kane County, Illinois , with a portion in
Cook County, Illinois . As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 94,487, making it the eighth-largest city in Illinois. Elgin is a diverse and rapidly growing community that was profiled in a 1997 issue of ''
Money Magazine '' as a
Microcosm of the
United States .
Elgin's population surpassed 100,000 by 2005, and the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission forecasts Elgin will have a population of 162,416 in 2030.
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. During the war thousands of
Militiamen and soldiers of
Gen. Winfield Scott 's army marched through the
Fox River valley. 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 travelled west. Looking for a site on the stagecoach route from
Chicago to
Galena , they eventually settled on a spot where the Fox River could be bridged. In
1836 they established the city, naming it after the Scottish hymn "The Song of Elgin."
Early Elgin achieved fame for the butter and dairy goods it sold to the city of . The watch factory employed three generations of Elginites from the late 19th to early 20th century, when it was the largest producer of fine watches in the United States. Today, the clocks at Chicago's Union Station still bear the Elgin name.
Elgin has a long tradition of education and invention. Elgin is home to the 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.
Local historian
E.C. Alft has written several books and an ongoing newspaper column about
Elgin's history .
The city is 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 Home s arrived in Elgin as kits from 1908 to 1940.
Predating Victorian homes were homes made of native
Cobblestone . It is 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 is the oldest building in Illinois built expressly as a museum that is still serving that purpose.
The 9-member Elgin Heritage Commission promotes historic preservation activity. The
Gifford Park Association is also active in historic preservation, and conducts a popular annual house tour.
Elgin is home to the
Elgin Symphony Orchestra , "Illinois' second orchestra," according to Chicago Tribune music critic John Von Rhein. Other classical music groups include the
Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra —the only youth symphony ever invited to
Ravinia , the
Elgin Choral Union , the
Elgin Children's Chorus , and
O.P.E.R.A. Outdoor music can be heard at the Wing Park Bandshell. Theatre groups include the
Janus Theatre Company , Talisman Theatre, which is responsible for productions of Shakespeare in the Park,
Elgin Community Theatre ,
Children's Theatre of Elgin , and Fox Valley Youth Theatre. Together, the Hemmens Auditorium 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 1980's, 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.
Elgin's city parks include 112
Acre (453,000 m&
2) Lords Park, which features a petting zoo and a herd of
American Bison , and 121 acre (490,000 m&
2) Wing Park, which includes a golf course. Other golf courses within Elgin include the Rolling Knolls Country Club, the Highlands of Elgin, and the Elgin 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 Chicago area's premier BMX Track, The Hill. 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 .
Although one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in Illinois, Elgin still retains some of the natural beauty and habitat diversity that first brought settlers to this area. On the East, the city borders the 4,200 acre (17 km&
2) Poplar Creek Preserve, maintained by the
Forest Preserve District Of Cook County , which includes bike trails, hiking trails and equestrian trails. The Shoe Factory Road Prairie located in the preserve provides an example of the hill prairies that once dotted the region. Poplar Creek Preserves connects to the 4,000 acre (16 km&
2) Spring Creek Valley Forest Preserve via a conservation easement covering parts of the Sears campus.
Elgin boasts two highly protected , or alkaline spring marshland, which is home to several rare
Orchid s. Trout Park also includes a similar calcerous seep community, with the addition of a unique forest community of oaks, ashes,
Maple s, and uncommon species such as
Arbor Vitae and
Witch Hazel . When the park was created in the 1920's, the local newspaper ran a lengthy front-page story with lists of the plant species of Trout Park, reflecting both the great variety of plants present and interest Elginites had in conservation. In the 1960s, the
Northwest Tollway bisected the site and reduced it in size.
Elgin ranks as one of the fastest growing cities in Illinois. In June 2005, the ''Chicago Tribune'' quoted Elgin Mayor Ed Schock saying that Elgin will in 40 years be the second largest city in Illinois. The city's Far West Development Strategy calls for the construction of 14,000 homes on agricultural land west of Randall Road, which has become a major retail corridor connecting the Fox Valley. Elgin's downtown area has also attracted developer interest. Three large residential projects will be completed in the downtown by 2007, at a total cost of more than $100 million. The
Gail Borden Public Library moved into a new $30 million 460,000 volume-capacity building in October of 2003. Other recent projects include the city's $41 million recreational center, the Centre of Elgin.
The city's rapid growth has been accompanied by increased concerns about traffic,
Urban Sprawl , and the city's capacity to provide services to new residents. City officials insist that Elgin's water plants have ample capacity to serve new residents. Elgin is known for the quality of its tap water, which in the past ten years has been named both the finest in Kane County and the finest in Illinois.
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 has since proven a significant source of income for the city. Drawing nearly four million people annually, as of March 2005, it is the fifth most popular tourist attraction in Illinois. The
Grand Victoria Foundation , to which the casino has contributed an amount in excess of $116 million, provides community grants to nonprofits in the city.
A significant
Laotian American community calls Elgin home. Elgin has been the sister city of
Vientiane , the capital of
Laos , since 1967. Some Laotian Americans have opened stores and restaurants, contributing to the city's remarkable diversity.
Elgin's civic society is characterized by a large, diverse, and effective group of grassroots organizations, a sense of community pride and a spirit of volunteerism and participation. In recognition of this, for the second time, Elgin won the National Civic League's prestigious
All-America City Award in 2002.
Community Groups:
Elgin was chartered as a city by the State of Illinois in 1854, and 100 years later, became the first city in Illinois to adopt a .
The city is represented in the Illinois legislature by
Representative Ruth Munson (R) and Senator
Steven J. Rauschenberger (R), Assistant Minority Leader. In Congress, Elgin is represented by Speaker
Dennis Hastert (R), Representative
Henry Hyde (R), and Representative
Melissa Bean (D).
Elgin is in
Hanover Township of Cook County and
Elgin Township of Kane County. Elgin Township is governed by a supervisor (Annette Miller) and four trustees (Robert "Bob" Johnson, J. Patrick Hudgens, Vicki Pellock and Kurt R. Kojzarek) elected to four year terms.
Elgin is located at 42°2'22" North, 88°17'19" West (42.039426, -88.288627).
According to the
United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 65.8
Km&2 (25.4
Mi&2 ). 64.7 km&
2 (25.0 mi&
2) of it is land and 1.0 km&
2 (0.4 mi&
2) of it is water. The total area is 1.54% water.
As of the
Census of 2000, there were 94,487 people, 31,543 households, and 22,395 families residing in the city. The
Population Density was 1,459.3/km&
2 (3,779.1/mi&
2). There were 32,665 housing units at an average density of 504.5/km&
2 (1,306.5/mi&
2). The racial makeup of the city was 70.49%
White , 6.80%
African American , 0.40%
Native American , 3.88%
Asian , 0.06%
Pacific Islander , 15.39% from
Other Races , and 2.98% from two or more races. 34.32% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race. A significant portion of Elgin's Asian population is of
Laotian origin.
There were 31,543 households out of which 39.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.6% were
Married Couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.0% were non-families. 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.94 and the average family size was 3.49.
In the city the population was spread out with 29.0% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 33.6% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 8.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 99.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $52,605, and the median income for a family was $58,404. Males had a median income of $39,581 versus $28,488 for females. The
Per Capita Income for the city was $21,112. 8.1% of the population and 6.4% of families were below the
Poverty Line . 11.6% of those under the age of 18 and 4.7% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
''Sources: CNNMoney.com, HomeInsight.com, Onboard LLC, US Census 2000''
The following is a list of people who were born in, lived in, or are otherwise associated with Elgin.
- Max Adler , vice-president of Sears & Roebuck, benefactor of Adler Planetarium
- Alkaline Trio , indie rock band
- Bruce Boxleitner , actor
- BarlowGirl , Christian rock band
- Reb Braddock , film director
- Daniel Brewbaker, composer
- Nina Burleigh , journalist and best-selling author
- Gail Dack , bacteriologist and authority on food poisoning
- Paul Flory , chemist, Nobel Prize winner
- Lloyd Hall , chemist
- Richard Hoover , production designer, Tony Award winner
- Kristine Iverson , assistant secretary of labor, George W. Bush administration
- William LeBaron , playwright, movie producer ( IMDB page )
- Jimmy John Liautaud , founder of Jimmy John's , benefactor of UIC's Liautaud Graduate School of Business
- Helen Miller Malloch , founder of the National Federation of Press Women
- Earl "Madman" Muntz , marketer, car stereo and 4-track Cartridge pioneer
- John Murphy, inventor of the Street Sweeper
- Frank O'Beirne , admiral and member of Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Brian Oldfield , Olympic shot putter
- Jane Peterson , painter and artist
- John Qualen , actor ( IMDB page )
- James Roche , president of General Motors
- Tom Shales , journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner (1988)
- Smoking Popes , indie rock band
- Charles Swanson , president of Encyclopædia Britannica
- Carleton Washburne , educator, author of the Winnetka Plan
Four public school districts and 18 private schools serve Elgin.
Public school districts serving Elgin:
- Central School District 301 - Burlington-based, serves some western portions of Elgin
- Community Unit School District 300 - Carpentersville-based, serves some northwestern portions of Elgin
- Community Unit School District 303 - St. Charles-based, serves some southwestern portions of Elgin
Private schools include:
The city is served by
Elgin Community College (ECC), one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the state. ECC serves the district #509 communities of St. Charles, Burlington, South Elgin, Wayne, Bartlett, Algonquin, Dundee, Hampshire and smaller towns.
Additionally, Elgin is home to
Judson College , a four-year Christian college on the banks of the Fox River. Judson features graduate programs in architecture and education, and as of May, 2005 is contemplating a name change to Judson University.
- 1936, while the reverse features a pioneer family. Both images are modeled on a pioneer family memorial made by Elgin sculptor Trygve Rovelstad .
