Annual cemetery walk features stories of Elgin's origin

A popcorn shop owner. The man who started an Elgin tree nursery. The wife of Gail Borden Public Library's namesake. The founder of Elgin.

The stories of several Elgin stakeholders buried throughout the Bluff City Cemetery grounds were shared with the public Sunday as part the 28th annual Bluff City Cemetery Walk, a fundraiser for the Elgin History Museum.

The walk featured dozens of volunteers dressed in costume, some portraying historical characters and others guiding groups on a tour. The nearly 600 people in attendance learned facts about the characters, the cemetery and the late 19th to early 20th century.

"It highlights where Elgin came from, where Elgin started, the people that came before us and the impact they made on the city," said Laura Stroud, who co-chairs the cemetery walk committee with her husband, Steve.

Sara Russell, the museum's educator and a tour guide for three years, said each volunteer does his or her own research and creates a presentation to accurately portray the characters.

"It's quite a big commitment," she said.

Beth Hudson of Elgin portrayed Emeline E. Church Borden, the wife of Gail Borden, who invented the condensed milk process. Piecing together a profile of the historical figure was the most difficult part of being involved, she said, especially because information is scarce on women who lived during the 1800s.

For Elgin resident Jeff Morello, however, learning and teaching about history is a passion.

"You store up all this knowledge and have nowhere to put it," he said. "So getting it out to the public and sharing it - that's where it needs to be."

An art teacher at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, Morello volunteered to play Civil War music on his harmonica for the second year in a row, this time near the military section of the cemetery.

"When a society loses track of their history, it's a lost society," he said.

Noting the importance of preserving Elgin's rich history, Tom and Maureen Lee attended their third cemetery walk Sunday to learn more about the city in which they have lived for 15 years.

"The fact that people preserve all of this for hundreds of years - it's incredible," Tom Lee said.

Stroud said attendees also come from far beyond Elgin, some of whom even travel from out of state. Each year, she said, she gets a few people who have personal ties to the area or who are descendants of the people featured along the walk.

"People need to know history on a personal basis - not just out of books," Morello said. "They need to know where they came from. They need to know who their ancestors were."