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Dairies to Prairies

Enjoy a shortened screening of Dairies to Prairies, exploring Elgin’s dairy legacy—from its Butter Board of Trade to prairie restoration—plus highlights from the newly digitized Elgin Dairy Report.

Dairies to Prairies tells the story of Elgin’s dairy heritage. With its own Butter Board of Trade, Elgin once set the price for butter nationally! Elgin's first wealth was the dairy industry with the Borden Condensing plant and easy rail access to the City of Chicago market. The project also explores how these former dairy farms have come under pressure from suburban development, modern day agriculture and efforts to restore natural prairies. Now the Gail Borden Public Library is working to digitize the Elgin Dairy Report publication for better understanding of Elgin's butter and dairy industry.

We will highlight the newly-digitized Elgin Dairy Report volumes thanks to the grant we received from the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board.

Presented by Historian Jerry Turnquist and Genealogy & Local History Librarian James McAdams.

This program is in partnership with the Elgin History Museum.

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This program is held in conjunction with The Elgin Dairy Report 1892-1894 and 1900-1903 digitization project thanks to 2025 funding from the

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE, ILLINOIS STATE ARCHIVES AND ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL RECORDS ADVISORY BOARD.

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