Our Pick
Posted on @rawstates
Gail Borden's name on an Elgin library, and the condensed milk behind it
1892
Elgin, Illinois
Gail Borden patented a way to boil the water out of milk and keep it with sugar in 1856, and in 1865 he put a condensery in Elgin, which helped turn the Fox Valley into a dairy district. He never lived here. In 1892 his stepsons Samuel and Alfred Church bought a mansion on North Spring Street, gave it to the town for a library, and attached one condition: the place had to carry his name forever. It still does, from a much larger building on Grove Avenue.
That was 1 of the hidden places.
Location: historic site
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