caption birth_place alt article_title name
alft chicago , illinois , usa alft e. c. alft
 elmer c. `` mike '' alft , jr. .
e. c. alft

elmer c. `` mike '' alft , jr. -lrb- born 1925 -rrb- is an american historian and former mayor of elgin , illinois .
born in chicago , illinois , he graduated phi beta kappa from grinnell college in 1949 and received his master 's degree from syracuse university in 1950 .
he taught at elgin high school for four decades while serving as city councilman , mayor , secretary of the board of trustees of the gail borden public library district , and various other capacities in local government .
in addition he was a part-time instructor at elgin community college .
alft was elected to the elgin city council in the at-large election in april , 1963 .
four years later , he was elected mayor , succeeding clyde shales .
as was the custom at the time , alft did not seek reelection when his four-year term expired in 1971 .
william rauschenberger was elected to succeed him .
he may be best known as a historian of elgin .
he has published several books on the history of elgin and the surrounding area , in addition to hundreds of articles for the local newspaper elgin daily courier-news .
he currently writes a biweekly column on elgin 's history .
