Elgin dedicates monument to first black residents

Mary Wheeler's great-grandfather was in a group of about 110 former slaves who took boxcars north from Mississippi to Illinois in 1862. The group of mostly women and children settled in Elgin after being liberated by the Union troops that swept through the town of Corinth.

Members of the Summit Park Neighbors association dedicated the first public monument honoring this group Sunday, marking what was the heart of the black community for more than a century.

The plaque describing the historic site went up Sunday at 452 Hill Avenue, outside the childhood home of Charlene (Hunter) Abdullah. Abdullah said the monument was a welcome reminder of the community's roots.

“So many people have forgotten what this area was because it's changed so much,” Abdullah said. “It's nice to be remembered.”

For many years, African-Americans were not allowed to live far from the Fremont Street core. The early arrivals built their homes on the edge of town, next to a garbage dump. Ernie Broadnax said his great-great-grandmother is thought to have arrived in Elgin with a group of escaped slaves in July 1862 — she decided to stay when the rest continued north to Canada. Broadnax's ancestor built her house from scraps she found at the dump, like many of the other African-American residents did.

Later, the neighborhood was one of the last to get indoor plumbing and electricity.

The Summit Park Neighbors started working on the monument about three years ago. A stone marker has been at the corner of Fremont Street and Hill Avenue for two years.

“We were interested in creating a sense of place,” said Bill Briska, chairman of the Elgin Heritage Commission. “All the blacks in Elgin, up to the 1970s really, lived in this neighborhood because of discrimination.”

Very few African-Americans still live in the Fremont Street area as residency restrictions were lifted and Asian immigrants and then Latinos moved in.

Mark Billings, president of Summit Park Neighbors, said plans to raise more money for sign panels at the intersection of Gifford and Fremont streets are already in the works. One day they will tell the story of early African-American pioneers, carving a new space in Elgin's public history.