Headlines from Elgin -- circa 1909

"I heard that the new amusement park at Elgin's Trout Park might be delayed because of a property dispute."

"Did you hear an Elgin company is building one of the rides at Chicago's Riverview Park?"

"It's certainly surprising to see those animals on the streets of Elgin."

These are comments people might have made after reading the Elgin area newspapers of a century ago. Here's look at those stories and others that made area headlines during March 1909.

• As area thrill-seekers looked forward to the opening of an amusement park at Trout Park, property owners haggled over the title of a nearby island in the Fox River. Rights to the island were granted to his family by President Buchannan, said the descendant of a longtime Elginite. Not so, said another local family who said they had paid taxes on the property for the last several years.

Investors wanted control of the property so a "rowdy crowd" could not gather just outside its boundaries. They also talked of building a pontoon bridge to the land and operating a Wild West show at the site.

• The newly opened Riverview Park in Chicago - a facility that would eventually become the equivalent of today's Six Flags Great America - was about to become even grander with the opening of a new ride made in Elgin. Dubbed a "Trip through the Rockies," the ride contained miniature automobiles which followed tracks through a mountain landscape.

Made by the International Miniature Railroad Company of Elgin, the ride's eight cars could each carry up to four passengers and were capable of speeds up to 8 miles per hours. Safety devices told the operator the location of each car and would also automatically shut down the ride if one of the vehicles jumped the tracks.

• "I'll pay $1,000 for any egg laid by an eagle in captivity," the director of Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo reportedly said while visiting Elgin's Lords Park. "I've never heard of an eagle laying an egg under those conditions and my quest for information on the subject shows eagles will not do so."

After finding an egg in the eagle's enclosure, the Elgin park commissioners sent an affidavit to the Chicago official as proof of their find. When asked about payment, the zoo keeper suggested that Elginites first wait to see what hatched from the egg.

• How prominent would car manufacturing become in Elgin? That's what some may have wondered after F.H. VanWambeke announced that his two year old business of manufacturing light delivery vehicles on the city's east side was a "decided success."

Built in his garage at Hill and Jefferson, VanWambeke's vehicles were not only found on the streets of Elgin and Chicago, but being sent across the country. The local entrepreneur boasted that his product could do the work of three horses and only cost 40 cents per day to operate.

• In addition to automobiles, there was something else becoming more common place on the streets of Elgin - mules.

"A person would be hard pressed to find a mule in the several years ago, but the cost of horses, which had doubled in just a few years, was prompting many to consider the alternative."

The animals which were used for teaming and trucking purposes were not native to the area, but were raised in the southwest United States.

• Finally, rumblings of a different form of city government in Elgin - a new type recently allowed by new state legislation - continued to move forward. Instead of electing 14 councilmen - two from each of the city's seven wards - voters would select several commissioners who would serve the city at-large. Each would have charge of a specific area of government, such as police, fire, or public improvements. The plan, which was touted as a leaner, more efficient form of operation, would become Elgin's new form of government in the next few years.