Today we’re going to Elgin, Illinois, about 30 miles northwest of Chicago. Despite having lived in the Chicago area all my life, Elgin has usually only been a city I’ve driven through to go to someplace else.
Elgin straddles both sides of the Fox River and has a growing population of over 110,000.
Its roots go back to the early 1800s when Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Black Hawk Indian War of 1832 led to the expulsion of Native Americans from their settlements, burial mounds and fertile land in the Fox Valley.
In New York, brothers James and Hezekiah Gifford heard of this land, now ripe for settlement and headed east in search of a site on which to build a stop along the Chicago to Galena stagecoach route, finding one at a spot where the Fox River could be crossed with a bridge.
In April of 1835, the Gifford brothers named their new town Elgin after the Scottish tune.
In 2001, Elgin erected a sculpture by native son Trygve A. Rovelstad that the artist first designed for his hometown in the 1930s. Fundraising efforts were thwarted by the Great Depression but 70 years later, the local economy had improved enough to support the redevelopment of the city’s riverfront and the bronze casting of Rovelstad’s life’s work.
Elgin was incorporated as a city in 1854 and soon earned fame for its butter and dairy goods. Gail Borden established a condensed milk factory here in 1866 along with an icon that is still famous today.
In 1864, a group of seven businessmen founded the National Watch Company and built a factory on 35 acres of land and began producing timepieces by 1867. The company officially changed its name to the Elgin National Watch Company and went on to become the world’s largest producer of pocket watches, wrist watches, bomb sights and precision instruments.
In 1964, the company closed its factory and moved to Blaney, South Carolina which subsequently changed its name to Elgin.
The original factory was razed in 1966 after having produced half of the United States pocket watches. All U.S. manufacturing ceased between 1968 and 1970 however, and the rights to the name “Elgin” were sold to a manufacturer in China. Any Elgin-branded watches produced after 1968 have no connection to the Elgin Watch Company.
The city of Elgin, North Dakota also derived its name from the watch brand and NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor was named for his father’s favorite watch.
A lot of folks know Elgin for its Mental Health hospital but its largest employers include its school district, JP Morgan Chase, Fisher Nuts, two hospitals, a community college and a riverfront casino that is credited for helping to revitalize Elgin’s economy.
Like many of the Fox Valley towns of which I’ve made videos, Elgin owes part of its existence to the Fox River and rail lines. There is a lot of history of interurban railroads like the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin which abruptly shut down service on July 3, 1957 and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway which was absorbed into the Canadian National Railway.
Today Elgin is served by Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Union Pacific and Metra.
Seven bridges cross the Fox River in Elgin. The one at Kimball Street has a dam beneath it that once had a grist mill on one side and a sawmill on the other.
As other Fox River dams have been removed recently, to keep the river flowing more freely, the Kimball Street dam’s future is also currently being debated.
Below the dam is Walton Island Park. Built by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930's, the 4.5 acre park was dedicated to the City by the Izaak Walton League. The park has walking paths, a pavilion shelter for special events and is an excellent spot for weddings or wedding photos.
Built in 1929, the Art Deco Elgin Tower is a 15 story building that is 186 feet tall. Originally occupied by the Home National Bank and Home National Savings and Trust, the Great Depression devastated the bank only months later. When goods for Elgin products increased after World War II, the tower prospered, but only temporarily. Hard times again fell on the tower in the 1960s especially with the 1965 closing of the Elgin Watch Company.
The tower was eventually purchased and restored by William R. Stickling whose charity continues to maintain it following his death in 1999.
Its restoration is considered a major part of a rehabilitation of downtown Elgin. The tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 but a fire in 2014 destroyed the building’s wooden interior.
Capstone Development purchased the building in 2016 and has renovated it into luxury loft apartments.
Elgin’s grown from an agricultural river town to a manufacturing hub and is one of the fastest growing cities in Illinois. Thanks for watching! Christian

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