A Grand Decade in Elgin

The Grand Victoria casino is marking its first ten years in Elgin, Illinois, and the Chicago Daily Herald is running a series of articles this week, starting with this one which talks about the transformation the casino has brought to Elgin:

Streets were crumbling into dust because some hadn’t been paved over in half a century, the parks were overgrown, and the public swimming pools couldn’t hold their water.

Millions in the hole, Elgin simply couldn’t keep up with routine maintenance or make necessary repairs - let alone add amenities for residents or help out the city’s poor, sick and otherwise needy.

“This is not among the list of well-to-do communities. Many of the things other communities take for granted, we couldn’t even do,” said Mayor Ed Schock, who was on the council when the casino opened. “We were way behind. We couldn’t even repave our streets.”

All that would change, though, with a huge influx of cash over just 10 years.

Downtown Elgin and the city as a whole saw their misfortunes reverse after the Grand Victoria took its first cruise up and down the Fox River on Oct. 6, 1994.

Elgin had beat out West Dundee, Antioch Township and Moline to win the state’s coveted 10th casino license in 1993, and many predicted it would be the success that could bring in enough money to re-energize the city.

During the lavish casino’s invitation-only opening night, more than 1,000 people tried their luck at the slots, the roulette wheels and the blackjack tables. Some praised it as “classy” and “elegant” - and in stark contrast to the dilapidated downtown where it docked.

The casino quickly built popularity and within months became the most profitable of nine now in Illinois, with its 1,200 gaming positions attracting 2.7 million people in 2003 alone. Over its 10-year run, the casino has seen its admission top 32 million and its revenues exceed $2.8 billion.

Reversal of fortune