City of Elgin

Elgin is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of Illinois, United States. Elgin is located 35 mi (56 km) northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 114797, making it the 6th most populous city in Illinois.

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.