Editing Elgin, Illinois (section)

==History==
{{Further|Spring-Douglas Historic District}}
The [[Indian Removal Act]] of 1830 and the [[Black Hawk War|Black Hawk Indian War of 1832]] led to the expulsion of the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] who had settlements and [[Mound builder (people)|burial mounds]] in the area and set the stage for the founding of Elgin. Thousands of [[militia]]men and soldiers of [[Winfield Scott|Gen. Winfield Scott]]'s army marched through the [[Fox River (Illinois River tributary)|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<ref>{{cite book |last=Alft |first=E.C. |title=Elgin: An American History |year=1984 |publisher=Crossroads Communications, Ashton, IL |isbn=0-916445-09-7 |url=http://www.elginhistory.com/eaah/ |access-date=October 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910042531/http://www.elginhistory.com/eaah/ |archive-date=September 10, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> it after the [[Scotland|Scottish]] tune "Elgin".<ref>{{cite book| title=The Congregational Hymn and Tune Book| year=1856| publisher=General Association of Connecticut| page=120| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGKYVucXEjIC&q=Elgin&pg=PA120| access-date=November 20, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208225425/https://books.google.com/books?id=hGKYVucXEjIC&lpg=PA434&ots=6cKBUe4rwb&dq=Elgin&pg=PA120| archive-date=February 8, 2016| url-status=live}}</ref>

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 [[Gail Borden Public Library District|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 [[watch]]es 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Aft, E.C.|title=''Elgin: An American History''|publisher=ElginHistory.com|date=2000|url=http://www.elginhistory.com/eaah/|access-date=September 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910042531/http://www.elginhistory.com/eaah/|archive-date=September 10, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Today, the clocks at Chicago's [[Chicago Union Station|Union Station]] still bear the Elgin name.<ref name="elginhistory.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.elginhistory.com/dgb/ |title=Elgin: Days Gone By by E. C. Alft |publisher=Elginhistory.com |access-date=March 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223210829/http://www.elginhistory.com/dgb/ |archive-date=February 23, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Elgin Road Races">{{cite web |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=55454 |title=Elgin Road Races |publisher=The Historical Marker Database |access-date=January 25, 2024}}</ref><ref name="Elgin Road Race">{{cite web |url=https://elginhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Elgin-Road-Race.pdf |title=Elgin Road Race |publisher=elginhistory.org |access-date=January 25, 2024}}</ref> The races were sponsored by the Elgin Watch Company who offered a $1,000 prize and a silver trophy to the winner.<ref name="Elgin Road Race"/> The races contributed significantly to the development of the modern automobile.<ref name="Elgin Road Races"/>

Elgin has a long tradition of education and invention. Elgin was formerly home to the [[Elgin Academy (Elgin, Illinois)|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 (Illinois)|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 [[Madman Muntz|Earl "Madman" Muntz]]; and [[Max Adler (Sears)|Max Adler]], founder of the [[Adler Planetarium]] in Chicago, America's first planetarium.<ref name="elginhistory.com"/>

In the 1990s, Elgin became one of the few cities in northern Illinois to host a [[riverboat]] [[casino]]. The [[Grand Victoria Casino Elgin|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.<ref name="Home Starts">{{cite web |url=http://www.crown-highlandwoods.com/elgin-housing-market-shows-strength-in-2013-numbers/ |title=Elgin Housing Market Shows Strength in 2013 Numbers |date=February 18, 2014 |publisher=Crown-highlandwoods.com |access-date=March 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402155953/http://www.crown-highlandwoods.com/elgin-housing-market-shows-strength-in-2013-numbers/ |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 District|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 [[Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design|LEED]] registered, and was designed to be expandable up to 30,000 square feet.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gailborden.info/about-the-library/rakow-branch |title=Rakow Branch - Gail Borden Public Library District - Elgin, Illinois |publisher=Gailborden.info |date=August 15, 2009 |access-date=March 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315000208/http://gailborden.info/about-the-library/rakow-branch |archive-date=March 15, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>  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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gailborden.info/about-the-library/history-of-the-library|title=History of the Library - Gail Borden Public Library District - Elgin, Illinois|website=www.gailborden.info|language=en-gb|access-date=October 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016070352/http://www.gailborden.info/about-the-library/history-of-the-library|archive-date=October 16, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2014, Elgin completed the Central Business District Streetscape Improvement Project and the Riverside Drive Promenade.

A significant [[Laotian American]] community calls Elgin home.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/725.html |title=Laotians |publisher=Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org |access-date=March 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413033538/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/725.html |archive-date=April 13, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>  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 (demonym)|Latino]] population, contributing to 45.7% of the population in 2020.<ref name="USCensusEst2020">{{cite web |title=Elgin city, Illinois |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/elgincityillinois |website=QuickFacts |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=January 24, 2022}}</ref>