Elgin is a city northwest of Chicago on the Fox River (Illinois). Most of Elgin lies within Kane County, Illinois, with a portion in Cook County, Illinois. As of the United States Census 2000, the city had a total population of 94,487, making it the eighth-largest city in Illinois and the 241st largest city in the United States.

As of 2007 Elgin's population is estimated to be at 104,288, and the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission forecasts Elgin will have a population of 167,375 in 2030.

History
The Black Hawk War led to the expulsion of the Native Americans in the United States who had settlements and Mound builder...

Elgin is a city northwest of Chicago on the Fox River (Illinois). Most of Elgin lies within Kane County, Illinois, with a portion in Cook County, Illinois. As of the United States Census 2000, the city had a total population of 94,487, making it the eighth-largest city in Illinois and the 241st largest city in the United States.

As of 2007 Elgin's population is estimated to be at 104,288, and the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission forecasts Elgin will have a population of 167,375 in 2030.

History
The Black Hawk War led to the expulsion of the Native Americans in the United States who had settlements and Mound builder (people) in the area, and set the stage for the founding of Elgin. Thousands of militiamen and soldiers of Winfield Scott's army marched through the Fox River (Illinois) 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 travelled 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 Scotland hymn'The Song of Elgin. '


In 1849, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad reached Elgin, which later would be served by railroads running along both banks of the Fox River, linking the growing town to Chicago and other urban centers.http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/420.html Retrieved September 22, 2006 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] is 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 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 (Chicago) still bear the Elgin name.Alft, E.C. 1992. Elgin: Days Gone By. Crossroads Communications, Carpentersville, IL. Published online at elginhistory.com]