Local coverage
Project conversations across Kane County and the Elgin area.
Active coverage depends on independent provider availability -- each community page below covers local housing and site context around Elgin.
South Elgin
South Elgin's oldest streets grew up around an 1847 gristmill and dam on the Fox River, in a settlement first known as Clintonville, and that riverside ground keeps groundwater high against basement walls.
Local planning notes →St. Charles
St. Charles traces to 1834, when settlers reached the east bank of the Fox River at what is now Baker Memorial Park, and the low ground near the river still drives most basement seepage here.
Local planning notes →Bartlett
Bartlett grew as a rail depot town on land owned by Luther Bartlett, who offered the railroad a right-of-way in 1873, and its later subdivisions sit on clay that holds water against foundation walls.
Local planning notes →Streamwood
Streamwood's rural predecessor, Hoosier Grove, held dairy farms into the 1950s before a 1956 slab-built subdivision arrived, and that single-era construction shares one set of below-grade weaknesses.
Local planning notes →Carpentersville
Carpentersville exists because the Carpenter family camped out a Fox River flood in 1837, and the river that shaped its founding still sets the water table beneath the older streets.
Local planning notes →East Dundee
East Dundee's signature industry, a brickyard turned pottery works, dug clay straight out of the Fox River bank starting in 1852, and that same clay is what keeps water pressed against basement walls.
Local planning notes →Gilberts
Gilberts grew from 1836 land claims and an 1839 farm into a railroad depot shipping milk to Chicago, and its farm-era houses sit on ground that drains slowly through the spring.
Local planning notes →Hampshire
Hampshire was platted twice for the railroad, first in 1874 and relocated in 1876, and its oldest housing carries stone and early block basements laid before damp-proofing was standard.
Local planning notes →