Dairies to Prairies Exhibit and Screening at Gail Borden Public Library

PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS AT GAIL BORDEN PUBLIC LIBRARY – MAIN BRANCH, MEADOWS COMMUNITY ROOMS ABC

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.

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

Please Register at the Gail Borden Public Library website.

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.