Welcome!
Whether you are a current resident, or have friends and family in the Elgin
area, this web site is the place to contact the community about events and
services.

Elgin is a picturesque community of approximately 700 residents in the northeastern part of
Iowa. It is located between the Turkey River and Otter Creek in eastern Fayette County what
is known as “Shinbone Valley.” Elgin’s 2000 population was 676 residents, but we are
growing! New housing is being built in several parts of town and we are proud of the quality of
life in our corner of Fayette County. Elgin is close to the communities of Clermont, West
Union, Elkader, Wadena, Gunder and Postville. The Valley School district includes Wadena,
Elgin and Clermont and is located about 2 miles from Elgin on Highway W51.

Elgin lies in the rolling hill country and much of the surrounding area is heavily wooded. A
number of residents of larger Iowa towns have weekend and vacation homes in the area. The
charm of the community and the excellent business services available make it a great place to
relax and enjoy the country.

Elgin has an unusual number of businesses for a town of its size. Some of the businesses
include,
Alpine Telephone, The American Legion Hall, Ag Venture of Iowa, Baker Construction,
Barker’s Jiffy Mart, Butikofer Insurance, Chapman Electric, Don’s Phillips 66, Downtown
Hair designs, Newspapers of Fayette County – The Elgin Echo, Elgin Fire Department, Elgin
Motor Supply, Elgin Historical Society, Elgin State Bank,  Elgin Laundromat, Extra Touch
Salon,  Hardware MD, Fauser Energy Resources, Frieden Welding, Hilgerson Trucking,
Treasures Antiques and Fine Art, Tyson Hog Buying Station, Katsumes Law Firm, Leonard-
Grau Funeral Home, Mary Kay Cosmetics – Terry Kruger,
Moore’s IGA Grocery, Relay Iowa, Rod’s Plumbing and Heating, Seabrooke Accounting, The
Sunrise Group, Torkelson Motors, Valley Veterinary Clinic, NE Iowa Coop, and Wenger
Construction. Heart of the Valley Clinic, Krueger Construction, Federal Hybrids, Inc., Roger
Falb Rentals, Central Tank Coating--Water Tower Maintenance, Francis Butikofer, Real
Estate, J & L Lawn Care, Kevin Lembke Trucking, Keith Johnson Grain Hauling,
J & M Fund Raising, Inc. & Jimmy's Elgin Cafe

Lutra, Iowa is now part of Elgin. It was the small town a mile from downtown Elgin and was
incorporated into the town of Elgin in the early 1900’s. The railroad came through Lutra and
served both communities until the late 1970’s. Both Elgin and Lutra had hotels and separate
business districts well into the 20th Century. Samuel Connors laid out the city blocks in Lutra
which originally consisted of 8 blocks. The Elgin Historical Society has numerous pictures and
city records relating to Lutra.

We welcome you to our community and hope that you’ll come to visit. Elgin is a serene
community and the perfect place for a weekend getaway.
We're just 75 miles from Cedar Rapids and Waterloo and an easy drive from Chicago, Des
Moines, Minneapolis and Madison.

Elgin residents enjoy an extremely low cost of living in a safe, scenic community with plenty of
services and things to do. It's a great place to live and a fine place to retire.
But best of all, our community is an exceptional place to raise a family in a top school
district - The Valley Community Schools!

Come for a visit - you may decide to stay! For more information about Elgin, see our City Of
Elgin page and take a tour of our web site.
Would you like your Elgin area
business to have a web page
and links?

The Elgin web site is offering
custom web pages and links for
Valley businesses for only
$25.00 a year! It's the most
inexpensive deal on the web!
Take a look at a sample page
featuring "TREASURES"
Antiques:

Click here to see an example -
TREASURES

Contact the site webmaster for
details and an appointment.

Click here to contact the web
master.

What's New at the
Library?
...Check out the
Elgin Library page.

Click HERE
Contact the Elgin
Website Manager
Click Here.

This web site was created and is
maintained as a volunteer project
for the town of Elgin and is
sponsored by the Elgin
Community Betterment Club
(ECBC) and is paid for by
business web listings at no cost
to the taxpayers.
Learn more about Race America!
Click on this link to visit their
site: www.raceamerica.org
Welcome to Elgin, Iowa!
The official web site for the town of Elgin, Iowa.
Sponsored by the Elgin, Iowa Community Betterment Club and the Elgin City Council
Iowa SHARE program offers
discounted healthy food for
volunteer services. Click on this link
for more details:
www.shareiowa.com
Elgin Town & Country Market
meets May through October.
Thursdays 5:00 to 6:30 PM
at the downtown Elgin City Park
on Center Street next to the Elgin
State Bank. Click here for schedule
of musical entertainment.
The area Community Calendar is
up and  running! Click on the  
button at the top of this column to
see the information.

If you have a community event that
you would like to have on this page,
please email Al Seabrooke at:
ajseabr@alpinecom.net

Our Elgin History
in a great coffee table
book -
"Elgin - then and
now"
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS
A Great Gift!
ELGIN COMMUNITY BETTERMENT CLUB 2010
           Serving the community and building a better future!

 Dirk Torkelson,  Donna Peterson -Co Chairpersons, Sara Strong - Secretary, Al Seabrooke - Treasurer

        Exciting changes are in the works for the future of Elgin!  The Elgin Community Betterment Club
called together approximately 60 residents of the community in November of 2007.  From that gathering the Elgin
2023 initiative developed.   Now the community is partnering with Trees Forever, Shive-Hatterly Architectural
Design firm, the MSA group, and the Elgin City Council to create the design to change and improve our
community.   During this period Elgin became part of the Turkey River Corridor project, which is the plan of the
communities of Clermont, Elgin, and Elkader to create a river trail and a recreational trail system that will connect
the three communities.  In the process the “Corridor”has been designated an Iowa Great Place, and with it the
availability of grant funds for the projects involved.  Already the first trail is funded and construction will begin from
the Nims bridge north of Clermont to Elgin.  That is expected to begin in 2010.  The Corridor steering committee
will be seeking other grants for the remainder of the recreational trail and the creation of the water trail.  These are
seen as positive economic developments for the area which will bring in tourist trade and create opportunities for
jobs and small business start ups.  Members of the ECBC are actively involved in these endeavors, and the ECBC
has and will continue to give financial support where possible.

        The ECBC continues to sponsor local activities as it has in the past.  We will support the Christmas season
events, the children’s programs at Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, the Miss Elgin contest, the town wide
cleanup day, the expanded northeast Fayette County garages sales, Sweet Corn Day,  and the Town and Country
Market,  Plans are being developed to further expand the garage sales to include all of the communities within the
River Bluffs Scenic Byway in northeast Iowa.

        In 2009 the ECBC membership reached 66, our biggest support group in the period since the ECBC
became an active community advocate.  Our revenue for 2009 was down slightly from 2008, and consequently
we spent less on community projects.  We discontinued the Thursday Music-in-the-park when we saw that
attendance didn’t warrant the continuation of that activity.  We decided to forego Sweet Corn Day in years of the
Elgin Homecoming celebration.  We plan to have the renewal of Sweet Corn Day in 2010, and the date is noted
on the events calendar - CLICK HERE FOR THE VALLEY COMMUNITY CALENDAR

         We again invite you to join in our monthly lunch meeting at the library meeting room.  The meeting convenes
at 11:30 a.m.  If you have a computer and an email address we will keep you abreast of the business conducted at
the meeting by sending the monthly minutes via email.  There is a place on the enrollment form which accompanies
this letter to include the email address.  Approximately 130 invitation letters will be mailed again this year.  We
hope to increase our numbers again and surpass the 66 of 2009.  Please join us.  Keep watching the Elgin
website, www.elginiowa.org for information about your community, and use the website to advertise the events in
which you are involved.  It’s free.  Contact Al Seabrooke at 426-5678 or ajseabr@alpinecom.net to place a
calendar item on the website.
Visit the new
ELGIN FIRE
DEPARTMENT
WEB SITE!
CLICK HERE
Elgin Housing Rehab Program

Elgin has been awarded $233,994 in grant funds from the Iowa Department of Economic
Development (IDED) to provide rehabilitation assistance to six (6) low and moderate-
income homeowners.  Jim Holz and Liz Kemp from MSA Professional Services are the
City’s Grant Administrators.

There are still 5 openings for this program as of August 4, 2010.

Applications to participate in the program are now available. You can click on this link
and print the application from a web page.

CLICK HERE TO SEE APPLICATION

The application period ends September 1, 2010.   If you have any questions, you may
contact Jim Holz or Liz Kemp at 563-582-3973 or toll-free at 888-869-1214.
FOR SALE
Jimmy's Elgin Cafe
Great Business Opportunity!
Complete business and building
only $68,500.
Click Here for more details.