Elgin, Illinois: Crafting a Strong Community

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Outdoor recreation in Elgin. 
Outdoor recreation in Elgin. 
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Elgin, Ill., has something for everyone: arts, entertainment, local food, recreation and more. 
Elgin, Ill., has something for everyone: arts, entertainment, local food, recreation and more. 
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Farmers market in downtown Elgin, Ill. 
Farmers market in downtown Elgin, Ill. 

Located less than an hour northwest of Chicago on the banks of the Fox River, Elgin, Ill., was once a small but thriving industrial city famous for its watch-making factories. That industry has mostly gone, leaving Elgin with an opportunity to reinvent itself. They’ve added their very own opera, a symphony orchestra (twice-named “Illinois Symphony of the Year”), a cultural center that hosts concerts, theater productions and more, and a host of arts programs designed specifically for kids. This year, Elgin will break ground on 55 new housing units for Illinois artists and their families in a historic building downtown.

The town’s evolution has allowed the former industry and manufacturing sectors to maintain a presence, but this presence is now more balanced and distributed throughout the community.

“In its heyday, downtown Elgin was a hub of industry and manufacturing along the river,” says Jason Pawlowski, promotions coordinator for the Elgin Downtown Neighborhood Association. “We get comments all the time from former residents or visitors who tell us they expected to see a downtown resembling a ghost town, but instead found a vibrant, revitalized, walkable area.”

One of the centerpieces of that vibrancy is the Elgin farmers market, which Pawlowski directs. The market is restricted to growers and vendors from a 150-mile radius. “Our goal is to make it more than just a place to buy food,” he says. “We want it to be a public area where people can gather.” Pawlowski coordinates live entertainment, public art exhibits, food and wine tastings, and wellness and green-living demonstrations.

For a city of slightly more than 100,000, Elgin has a remarkable sustainability agenda. City leaders are currently finalizing a comprehensive sustainable master plan that will incorporate the social, economic and environmental objectives of its citizens into the city’s policy, development and culture. The city has a curbside recycling program; a storm water filtration project protects the water basin; city purchasing policies promote hybrid cars; and new utility buildings are LEED certified, while improvements to current buildings are made with green standards in mind. The city’s garbage transfer station is a certified LEED project, with a green roof and a graywater system. 

  • Published on Dec 28, 2010
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