Elgin National Watch Company
In 1850, Elgin was connected to the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, enabling the city to export freight. Elgin became a major supplier of dairy products to Chicago. The Elgin Academy, independently listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), was completed in 1856. Gail Borden, Jr., the inventor of condensed milk, opened the world's largest condensed milk factory in the world in the 1860s. Elgin's first bank, the First National Bank of Elgin, was founded in 1865. The Elgin Board of Trade opened in 1872 and was tasked with setting the national price of butter. A second major industry arrived in Elgin in 1867 with the opening of the Elgin National Watch Company. The company became the nation's largest producer of pocket watches and employed 2,700 of the city's 17,823 residents in 1890. Company superintendent George Hunter planned the First Universalist Church with his nephew. The church is listed independently on the NRHP, and attracted speakers such as Lincoln Steffens, Norman Thomas, and Samuel Porter Jones.