Echoes of Elgin: Timeless Tales from the Elgin History Museum

The Woodruff & Edwards foundry stood on State Street for more than a century. E.C. "Mike" Alft gives a history of the company in this echo from February 22, 1998.

I, for one, am glad they went with the name "Shoe Factory Road" rather than "Selz-Schwab Shoe Supplier Street."  Tune into this echo from January 25, 1982 to learn more.

The site of Channing Memorial Elementary has a history that goes way back...and way down.  Learn more in this echo from March 20, 1988.

Elgin is well-known for its historic architecture.  We even have some old  homes made of an unexpected material...concrete block. Tune into this echo from December 21, 1981 to learn the how and where.

Would you have frequented the Purple Grackle, back in the day?  Wait...which version?  The Purple Grackle in 1923, or the Purple Grackle in 1951?  There is quite a difference, and one you may not want to admit to.  Pour yourself a drink and learn more in this echo from December 15, 1996.

Tune into this echo from July 26, 1998 to hear about a few houses on South, Brook and Morgan Sts., as well as Bluff City and McLean Blvds.  

Have you seen the ornate clock in downtown Chicago?  Not the Marshall Field's clock...the better one!  The Elgin National Watch Company clock on East Wacker Drive, of course.  Tune into this echo from July 25, 1999 and you'll learn enough to educate some Chicagoans on their own clock.

We can never hear too many stories about Elgin's unique homes.  This echo from September 22, 2007 covers a few classes of architecture rarely mentioned.

Do you have freckles, premature old age or diptheria?  Better get yourself a bottle of patent medicine. I would go with the one made in Elgin.  Let Mike Alft prescribe you a remedy in this echo from April 19, 1982.

Spiess and Ackemann's, two Elgin shopping icons, are no more.  Tune in to this echo from July 23, 2001 to hear how these stores rose and fell.