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Elgin Academy
Elgin High School
Franklin School
1st. Congregationalist Church
St. Mary's Church
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church
Ev. Lutheran Church of Holy Spirit
Methodist Church
 Episcopal Church
Grant School
Buildings
Borden Library
City Hall
Cook Publishing
Brethren Publishing 
Dunham's Castle
Elk's Club
Ill. State Armory 
Home Bank Building
Professional Building
Post Office
Sears Academy
Selz Shoe Factory
Masonic Temple
H. Kind 
Bakery
Hubbard Block
McGraw 
Electric
Woolworth's
Cromwell Shoes
Judge Botsford's Residence
Fire Barn # 1
Fire Barn # 5
Elgin Eagle Beer
Hospitals
Sherman Hospital
Resthaven Sanitarium
St. Joseph's Hospital
Larkin Children's Hospital
Elgin State Hospital Annex
Old People's Home
Streets
Grove Ave.
Grove Ave 
at Nite.
North on Grove
Douglas Ave.
Chicago Street
Villa Street
Highland & Larkin Avenues
Modern Elgin
Grove Ave. (Mod)
Aerial View
Elgin Skyline
Greetings From Elgin
Greetings From Elgin (1975)

Home Banks Building
AKA Elgin Tower

The Home National Bank opened a 15-story "skyscraper", in May of 1929. The name would eventually be changed to The Tower Building on Fountain Square. Its height, at 186 feet, would surpass the watch factory tower, which was at 143 feet.

By the late 1920s, the style of architecture was changing away from the decorative "noodles" of the past, and began to take on a more modern, simplistic style. While the goal of the Elgin Tower was to take on the look of the day, the goal was not to make it too deco for the conservative Elginites. The building is streamlined, but with curves, so as to appease to both new and old alike.

With a lofty price tag of about $800,000, the Home Savings Bank Building would go into receivership in January of 1932. It would be another fatality of The Great Depression. Click here to learn more about Elgin Tower  

Ed Note:  W. C. Fields once said, "It was a woman who drove me to drink!  And I never even had the decency to thank her!"  I roamed  into Keeny's Sporting Good in downtown Elgin one day hoping to buy an Elgin Watch.  Pat Keeny told me that she didn't have any, but she showed me this postcard.  I bought it and have been collecting Elgin postcards ever since.  While I did thank Pat, there is an irony in all of this: Pat doesn't own a computer.  She has never even seen this site!"  JPM

        

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Fox River
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Chgo Bridge at night
Kimball  Bridge
Walton Island
Pumping Station
Elgin Nat'l 
Watch Co.
West & Front Wing
Noon at Factory
The Main Entrance
National House
Elgin Watchmakers College
Il. Watch 
Case Factory
Eppenstein's Home
Observatory
N. Y. World's Fair
My Elgin's All Right
Parks
Gifford Park
Veteran Monument
Lord's Park
Scenic View
Upper Lake
Band Stand
Audubon Museum
Pavilion At Night
Pavilion in Wintertime
Bear Pit
Trout Park
Trout Park  Amusement Park
Sulfur  Springs
(Wing Park)
Pavilion,
Wing Park
Swimming Pool
Band Concert
(Wing Park)
Weldwood Country Club
Central Park
Bridge over Tyler Creek
Windmill on Aurora Elgin RR
Hotels
Kelley Hotel
Hotel Fosgate
Fox Hotel
Misc.
Dairy Cows
Interurban
 Hiawatha
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