Elgin was a siding on the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad, now part of the Union Pacific Railroad, and served as an important watering stop with a post office from 1913 until 1966. James Webster Bradshaw homesteaded the area in 1880. The importance of education to local ranchers was reflected when his son, Reuben Bradshaw, donated the land and built the school in 1922. During its years of operation, the single-room Elgin School taught first through eighth grade before closing in 1967. The Bradshaw family later restored the historic school and donated it to the state of Nevada, which maintains it as a historic site for future generations.