USA > Illinois > Kane County > Elgin > The history of Elgin, Kane County, Illinois, 1835 to 1875 > Part 3
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Early in February, 1849, the first railway train from Chicago reached Elgin. It was a gala day in the village, and a grand banquet in honor of the event was given to all comers. For two years after that event, Elgin was the western terminus of all western railways. The myriad passengers that during all that time were rushing westward, were landed on the old platform south of Stewart's bakery, where, on the arrival of each train, they were met by a perfect brigade of teamsters, runners, etc., etc., anxious to transport them further west. The Elgin hotels, too, did a great business during those days, and as a consequence the City hotel was built. After the Fox River railroad was constructed, the Kimball house was erected near the east side depot, by P. J. Kimball, Jr., and enjoyed a splendid reputation. When the railroad crossed the river, W. C. Kimball, Esq., built the Waverly house, a hotel that for the past twenty-three years has been known as one of
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
the best conducted caravanseras in the west. It is now owned by the Messrs. Lasher, who have achieved for themselves a highly enviable repu- tation as caterers to the public wants.
The building of the railroad westward was succeeded in Elgin by a period of great business stagnation, although its manufactories, including a new and extensive tannery, owned by B. W. Raymond, continued to keep the town alive. The Fox River Valley railroad, also, which was commenced in 1853, and pushed forward to Geneva, Wisconsin, at first induced a belief in the minds of the people of Elgin that, on the completion of the road to the great pineries of Wisconsin, a lumber market would be created in Elgin, and a new impulse would be given to trade. For some cause the road never reached the desired point, and as a consequence considerable depression resulted from that fact, as well as from the stagnation incidental to the removal of the terminus of the Galena railway. Yet, all this time the people of Elgin were keenly alive to all chances for building up their town, and only wanted the opportunity still to encourage new enterprises when occa- sion offered.
Elgin became an incorporated city in February, 1854, the following gen- tlemen being then elected as corporate officers :
Mayor-Dr. Joseph Tefft. Aldermen-First ward, Charles S. Clark, R. L. Yarwood; Second ward, Luther C. Stiles, Paul R. Wright ; Third ward, Edson A. Kimball, George P. Harvey.
Now, that the village had donned the garments of civic importance, its days of toddling infancy were past. The Bluff City was no longer an ideal- istic but a downright entity. Yet this event was followed by the mighty financial crisis of 1857. Property depreciated to low figures ; the manufac- tures of Elgin, like all other enterprises, were paralyzed; stores were unrented, and Elgin was at a stand-still, with grass growing in its thorough- fares, and its people merely employing their energies in providing for life's wants. Thus it continued for some years, and thus many predicted it would long continue.
The frightful news of April, 1861, found the place still partly in this con- dition, and like all other communities in the north, the little city became suddenly awake to a mighty work. War was bursting out all over the south ; the fire lit in Charleston harbor was furnishing brands to every secessionist from Kentucky to the Gulf. The news reached Elgin, and in one week thereafter the first company raised for the first regiment of Illi- nois volunteers left the gallant little city, to brave the battle shock that was riving the republic ; and from that day, during all the long and bloody struggle, Elgin continued to do its duty, as may surely be gleaned from the following condensed statement of the numbers it sent to battle :
The first company sent from Elgin was mustered into the Seventh Illi- nois volunteers, on the 15th of April, 1861, and on the expiration of its term of service it was again mustered into the same regiment. On the 25th of
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
July, 1861, Elgin furnished a company to the Thirty-sixth Illinois volun- teers, and still another company to the Fifty-second regiment, mustered September 14, 1861. In October of the same year a company left the city for the Fifty-fifth Illinois volunteers. Elgin contributed a very large quota to the Fifty-eighth regiment, which was organized in 1862, and in June of that year a company was also organized there for the Sixty-ninth regiment of three months' men. On September 5, 1862, two companies left the city for the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois volunteers. The Elgin Battery was formed in the fall of 1862, and mustered into service in Novem- ber of that year. In February, 1864, extensive barracks were built on the Lovell property, in the north part of the city, which received the designa- tion of Camp Kane, and in February, 1864, these were temporarily occupied by the Fifty-second regiment, then at home for a short time. The regiment received large accessions from the place on its redeparture for the front in March of the same year, and in the June following the One Hundred and Forty-first Illinois volunteers marched from Camp Kane, Elgin contribut- ing two companies to the regiment. Besides those mentioned, Elgin con- tributed many soldiers to other organizations, and from the day, in the early spring of 1861, that the first company left it, until the happy midsummer, four years after, that the war's last veteran marched proudly home, Elgin was never derelict to the calls of the struggling, but at last victorious Republic.
And just before the close of that great conflict came a great period of success and enterprise. At that era money became plenty, and capitalists as a consequence became anxious for investments. Elgin began to receive its share of the new benefits. An immense condensing establishment grew up on the east side, under the management of Mr. Gail Borden, together with Messrs. W. G. Hubbard, D. M. Cole and P. Graff. Here is daily con- densed, for a never-ceasing demand, hundreds of gallons of the milk pro- duced by the magnificent herds that graze upon the hills and valleys of this splendid dairy country. The condensing factory has been enlarged, and, as Elgin's first success under the new era of business prosperity, this is a most pleasant matter of record.
And at this time, also, was projected Elgin's greatest pride and benefit, the National Watch Factory, an institution which has already been of incom- parable good to the city. Its establishment was projected in 1864, and a company for that purpose was organized in Chicago during that year, of which B. W. Raymond, Esq., was appointed president. Then Elgin went to work in downright earnest to secure its location. G. B. Adams, Esq., having first "posted " his townsmen on the progress of the undertaking, soon a committee was busy ascertaining what inducements would cause the location of the factory in Elgin, this committee being the Hon. S. Wilcox, Messrs. A. J. Joslyn, Henry Sherman, O. Davidson and G. B. Adams. The committee invited the new company and its mechanics to visit Elgin.
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
They came, they saw, and the committee conquered. But the victory was not secured without effort. It is sufficient to say that private meetings were held ; the required stock subscribed at a single meeting ; the land purchased and donated, while surrounding towns were kept in ignorance of what was transpiring, at the expense of suppressing an entire edition of the Elgin Chronicle, in which the project had found ventilation. The location of the factory here was settled, and the National Watch factory was an estab- lished fact in Elgin. Now, its name and fame are cosmopolite, and the city in which it is located is spoken of from Sitka to Cape Horn, and from San Francisco to Pekin.
Ever since 1864 the city has been rapidly increasing. A new and beauti- ful Methodist Episcopal church was built in 1866, as well as a neat Free Methodist church (now German Evangelical), and a really exquisite Uni- versalist house of worship. During 1868 Elgin's progress was marvelous. In 1869 the Northern Illinois Insane Asylum was located about a mile southwest of Elgin. Like the watch factory, it was not secured without great effort, as many other places in northern Illinois wanted it. But such benefits had resulted to the place from the factory, that the citizens felt that they could afford to pay handsomely to secure the asylum. Hence, at an election held in this year, some $50,000 in bonds were voted for the purpose. About $20,000 of this was expended in the purchase of a farm, a spring, etc., which were donated to the state. What was done with the remaining $30,000 is unknown, except to the few who are in the secret. But when the property owners have paid $100,000 interest and principal to liquidate these bonds, they will be extremely gratified to have a satisfactory report and to know that they have received an equivalent. The insane asylum is a noble institution, and its buildings exceed in size and cost anything in the county ; but the citizens of Elgin have not derived the advantage from its location here which they anticipated.
After the location of the institutions referred to, others were established, such as a great fruit-canning establishment, a mat and mattress factory (since burned), and a large fruit and vegetable-growing interest has been built up by the former. Besides all this, the cheese trade of Elgin has grown enormously. The city is surrounded on all sides by cheese factories, that export thousands of pounds of their golden-hued products monthly, and from the number of wagons to be found on the streets of Chicago, inscribed with the words " Elgin Dairy," one might conclude that Elgin was the metropolis, indeed, of the scriptural land of milk and honey.
Besides the factories and other shops alluded to, the city now possesses two large foundries, four excellent grist mills, two planing mills, several carriage shops, etc., etc. Since 1865, when most of the business portion of the city was burned, new and splendid blocks have been erected for business purposes. The year 1870 saw completed the DuBois block, one of the finest commercial edifices in the state, containing a public hall that would not
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
discredit a metropolis. A Baptist church has been finished, that is a model of chaste elegance. Old streets are being improved, new ones laid out, and on every hand is seen unmistakable evidence both of the city's growth and of the increasing opulence of its people. Not less than $40,000 a month is paid to the operatives of the town ; an immense monthly revenue also comes to the farmers in its vicinity for milk, and, in good truth, its people are looking up. And wisely have these farmers determined to show their pro- ducts, as may be inferred from the establishment of the Elgin Agricultural Society, an organization which sprang into existence in 1869, and that since that time has expended about $8,000 in the purchase and fitting up of ele- gant grounds. The society's grounds are commodious, well watered and contain splendid cattle sheds as well as a floral hall, amphitheater, and, indeed, all the adjuncts of a well-appointed fair ground. By a resolution adopted by the society, it has been determined to hold its annual fairs in September.
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THE LATER HISTORY OF ELGIN.
"E have thus brought down the history of the city of Elgin to the year 1870, which is as far as it has been given in any previous work of this kind. The following is intended as a concise history of the more important facts of interest that have transpired since that date. In order to render the whole intelligible, we shall be obliged to refer, in some cases, to dates anterior to that year
THE CITY LIMITS.
The territory comprised within the limits of the city of Elgin was, at its organization in 1854, exactly four square miles, measuring one mile north, east, south and west from the " liberty pole," which stood where the center of the public fountain now is. The limit on the east was, however, soon after extended to the county line of Cook county, and in 1869 it was extended on the south to the section line of sections Nos. 22, 23 and 24, including about one square mile of additional territory, making the present size of the cor- porate grounds about five and one-quarter square miles, divided nearly equally from north to south by the Fox river of Illinois, whose beautiful banks and bluffs have given to the city the familiar sobriquet of the "Bluff City," a term which we do not like, however, and hope to see dis- continued. Ours is not a "bluff " city in the true American sense of that term. We have no steep, precipitous banks or hills, nor are our people "rude, coarse or blustering in their manners." The " bluffs " along our large western rivers are often on a magnificent scale, fully entitling the cities on their banks to be proud of an appellation drawn from them. But we have no bluffs, proper-only mere blufflets, at best -- to coin a term. To the eye of the first explorer, the site of our city presented a succession of beautiful rolls and knolls, dells and swells, benches and barrows; rising and receding, stretching back from the river through undulating meadow-like prairies, park-like forests and orchardy openings, out and away for miles and miles into the interior, canopied with the bluest of skies, and breathed upon by none but the balmiest of breezes. "Sylvan City " would have been a more beautiful as well as a sweeter and more sonorous appellation.
4
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
But what need have we for any such meretricious cognomen ? The enter- prise of our citizens has given us that, which, while the name of
"Our noble Elgin beets the heavenward flame,"
shall secure us
" A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time And razor of oblivion."
WARDS.
At its first organization the city was divided into three wards, as follows : First ward included all the territory within the city limits which lay north of Chicago street and east of the river ; Second ward, all south of Chicago street and east of the river; Third ward, all west of the river. The Fourth ward was afterward erected from the First, including all north of Chicago street and east of Spring. In March, 1874, the Second ward was divided into the Second and Sixth, making the Second bounded as follows : On the north by Chicago street ; east, by the city limits ; south, by Prairie and Villa streets, and west by Fox river. The Sixth ward is bounded on the north by Prairie and Villa streets, on the east and south by city limits and west by the river. The Third ward was divided at the same time into the Third and Fifth, making the Third to include all south of Bridge street and west of the river ; and the Fifth all north of Bridge street and west of the river.
POPULATION.
The last state census, taken in 1871, gave the population of the city of Elgin at 5,441. But a careful census taken in 1873 by the Board of School Commissioners, enumerated the whole population at 7,300, and another taken in the fall of 1874, gave over 8,000 inhabitants. The number of new buildings erected and the growth of trade, has fully kept pace with this rapid increase of population.
MANUFACTURES.
Among the leading manufacturing establishments of Elgin, many of which have either been commenced or largely added to within the last five years, we enumerate the following :
MACHINE SHOPS AND FOUNDRIES.
The Elgin Iron Works, at present owned and operated by Marcus Mal- lery, were established in 1870. The works are situated on River street, near the foot of Milwaukee. These works manufacture sewing machine stands, steam engines for machine shops, farm and dairy use, dairy fixtures, etc. They use in their business about 400 tons of iron and 200 tons of coal per year, employing an average of thirty hands. The pay-roll amounts to nearly $2,000 per month. These works are a model of neatness, order and skill in their line.
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
Messrs. Ruch & Blackmer have a large brick shop in the west wing of the woolen mill buildings, where they manufacture and repair every kind of machinery, and turn out work of the most tasteful designs, some of which are of their own invention.
Moseley Brothers opened last year a shop in the southeast corner of Gronberg, Bierman & Co.'s block, on River street, where they design and manufacture watch-making machinery, jewelers' and engravers' tools, and all the implements peculiar to the craft. C. S. Moseley, of this firm, is the pioneer of this manufacture in Elgin, having, in 1865, superintended the making of the machinery with which to make the tools with which were constructed the first watches that were made in the Elgin watch factory, a year or two later. More than that, he invented many of the machines and tools with which he made the tools invented by him, to stock the National works. He is the veteran horologist and machinist of the Elgin National Watch Company.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, ETC.
Gronberg, Bierman & Co. built, in 1870, on River street near the foot of Division, one of the best manufacturing blocks in the city. It is 63x50 feet, three stories high, and is supplied with both water and steam power. They. manufacture the "National Combined Reaper and Mower," under a patent of their own, and are gaining for it a wide reputation and a large sale. They manufacture a full line of agricultural implements, besides doing general casting and repairing work.
O. Barr & Son have an establishment on River street, next to Heide- man & Root's stone mills, where they manufacture plows, harrows, culti- vators, land rollers, etc., employing from six to ten hands. It was estab- lished in 1870, and has lately been enlarged and extended.
D. M. Cole & Co. established in 1870, on River street, the manufacture of those indespensable articles of domestic use, an improved washing machine and a patent wringer, of their own designing. The latter, under the popu- lar trade mark of the " Lady Elgin Wringer," has won a wide reputation for itself and notoriety for the city in which it was invented. These wringers ring in an era of ease for housekeepers.
DAIRY GOODS.
M. Mallery & Co. have just completed, on the southeast corner of North and River streets, a two story frame building 100x40 feet, where they have commenced, on a large scale, the manufacture of cheese vats, steam engine finishings, heaters, milk cans, churns, etc. No better idea of the magnitude of the dairy trade in this vicinity can be gained than by visiting this estab- lishment and noting the number of huge vats, and the numerous boilers and engines and other fixtures, which the whole lower floor is used for making and storing, and the profusion of smaller fixtures stored in the spacious
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
lofts above, all sold and ready to be delivered. A large room on the upper floor, 30x40 feet, is finished and furnished for the use of the Elgin Board of Trade.
Hawthorne & Bosworth, on the south of Chicago street, between River street and the bridge, are engaged in the same line of manufacture, employ- ing ten or twelve skilled workmen and a large capital in supplying the demand for dairy goods. This firm does a business amounting to $40,000 or $50,000 per year.
Dr. R. R. Stone established, in 1874, a branch of this same industry at the northwest corner of Division street and Douglas avenue. A long list of cheese factory furnishing goods are supplied, and butter tubs and cheese boxes manufactured by the 100,000. Power is supplied from the steam mill of C. W. Fletcher & Co. and machinery is being put in. The brand of "Elgin Butter" and "Elgin Cheese " borne upon these boxes and tubs is becoming known the " warld o'er."
The dairy interest is extending so rapidly in the northwest that the suc- cess of Elgin inventions and enterprise in that line promises grand results to the inventors and manufacturers as well as to the financial growth of the city, which is destined to remain as it is, the headquarters of this ever expanding trade.
BUTTER AND CHEESE.
The Elgin Butter Company was organized in April, 1870. The factory is located on the west side, a short distance north of Galena street, near Harvey street. The buildings are 80x30 feet, two stories and basement. A steam engine of four horse power performs the labor of churning, pumping water, etc. 2,000 gallons of milk can be used per day. Twelve and a half cents per gallon is the average price paid for milk in the winter and eight cents in summer. Six to eight hands are employed. Over $3,000 per month is paid out for milk. The aggregate amount of butter made per year is 144,000 pounds, and of cheese made from the skimmed milk, 190,000 pounds. The butter brings readily, per contract, forty cents per pound, and the cheese from eight to ten cents. I. H. Wanzer is superintendent and joint owner with Messrs. O. Davidson, W. H. Hintze and E. D. Wal- dron, ofį this city.
MILK CONDENSING.
A company was formed in 1866, of which Mr. Gail Borden, one of the first inventors of the process of condensing articles of food, was the president, D. M. Cole treasurer and J. Christie secretary, with a capital of $25,000. It was called The Elgin Milk Condensing company. In 1868 the stock passed into the hands of Gail Borden and his associates in the city of New York, and the name was changed to The Illinois Condensing Company. The cor- poration who own this manufactory has three other establishments char- tered under the respective names of The New York Condensed Milk Company, in Duchess county, N. Y., The Borden Condensed Milk Com-
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
pany, in Putnam county, N. Y., and The Borden Meat Preserving Company, at Borden, Texas. The Elgin factory takes the lead in the amount of goods manufactured.
The location of this unique manufactory in this city has given to Elgin a cosmopolitan fame, and the judgment of its founders in placing it here strongly corroborates the verdict that this is one of the most desirable dairy districts in America. The highest price is paid for the milk brought to this factory. It is required to be of the very best quality, fresh, rich and clean. The cows from which it is taken are kept upon the best quality of feed in winter and the richest pastures in summer, producing a very different article from that secreted in the diseased carcasses of still-fed cows in large cities, or the " milk sick " fluid found in malarious districts.
The establishment employs on an average thirty men and twenty-six women and girls. The amount paid out for milk is $8,000 on an average per month. The buildings, office, storehouses, shops, sheds for feed, etc., cover and occupy about one and one-fourth acres of ground, the whole comprising a neat, cleanly, extensive and well arranged institution, of which this city is justly proud. A. B. Church is the present superintendent of the Elgin establishment and S. F. Hinkley agent, to both of whom we are indebted for many items of information in regard to this remarkable manufacture, the details of which we can not give in this brief history.
Gail Borden died in 1874, after having purchased a residence in this city, where his family still resides. His name will live in the annals of Ameri- can history as one of the benefactors of his race, having by his practical shrewdness and energy utilized the discoveries of chemistry and supplied a cheap and wholesome article of food, which, without this process, would have been practically unattainable by a large part of mankind. It is an especial boon to infants and invalids, as it is available at all seasons, can be kept in any climate, and when diluted with pure water is in no essen- tial respect different from the original fluid.
THE ELGIN PACKING COMPANY
was organized and buildings erected in 1869 and 1870. The latter are located near the corner of Bridge and Union streets, and are extensive in size, covering nearly one-half an acre of ground. They are supplied with boiler and engine and all the modern appliances for canning vegetables and fruits. Sweet corn is put up in immense quantities, as are also peas, beans, tomatoes, cherries and other small fruits.
The business employs from 100 to 200 hands-men, women, boys and girls-during the packing season, which lasts a little over three months. The amounts paid out annually for fruits and produce foot up many thou- sands of dollars. The item of material and labor for manufacturing cans also amounts to a large sum. Forty thousand dollars worth of canned goods were put up in 1874, an unfavorable season. The prices paid to farmers for
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
sweet corn and other products for canning is such as to render the income per acre greater than any other species of agricultural industry. The pres- ent officers of the company are : I. C. Bosworth, president ; O. Davidson, secretary and treasurer ; I. C. Bosworth, H. Sherman, Peter Burritt, F. L. McClure, O. Davidson, directors ; F. L. McClure, general agent ; S. F. Perry, superintendent.
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