Our Pick
Posted on @rawstates
Downtown Elgin, 94 buildings built on watch money
1875
Elgin, Illinois
![]()
Elgin's commercial core got going in the 1830s but nothing in the district standing today is older than the 1870s, by which point the National Watch Company works had been running for several years. The district holds 94 buildings, 76 of them contributing, most of them two and three storey storefronts with a few taller blocks, churches, a library and a power station mixed in. Building carried on through the twentieth century rather than stopping at a single period, which is why the street reads as layers instead of a set.
That was 1 of the hidden places.
Location: approximate area
This place has its own thread on r/rawstates
Read what people are saying about it, or add your own.