The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Information in this book was obtained from interviews from Dr. and Mrs. I. F. Harter and Joe Long who were among early settlers living in Stronghurst at the time. This book was written in 1936 by the 7th Grade at Stronghurst School District #30, as a CIVIC's PROJECT of Mrs. Marie Swedlund.
A familiar sight for travelers passing through the Village of Stronghurst was to see the construction of a concrete road which was to connect State Routes No. 34 and 95.
Men from our own village and other surroundings came to work for many months under the guiding hand of the Capital Construction Co. of Des Moines, Iowa to complete their masterpiece which would shorten a great deal the distance to Peoria and also relieve the traffic on Route 34. Grading, digging, cutting down embankments and building up marshes were at last completed and in the summer of 1933 the highway was completed.
Later, the succeeding year, 1934, a viaduct went under construction. Again men toiled away for almost a year digging under the hard road. Traffic was forced to detour for nearly a year and many tourists were disgusted to detour for almost two miles. However it was at last finished. The expenses were paid by the Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company and the State Highway Department. For the first time Stronghurst had a thoroughfare highway.
Imagine walking on a two plank sidewalk. Well, this was the plight of the people of "Old Stronghurst."
The first sidewalk was made of two planks. A pie social paid for this. Good old pie ! One can always rely upon it. This sidewalk was laid by Claude Doytey, and Fred Baldwin. Several years passed by and no sidewalks were made. "Why can't we have any more sidewalks? No one knew, so more wood sidewalks were made. Modernizing the town started and cement sidewalks were started. The first cement sidewalks were laid by the Sandeen Brothers.
Although now only a small village with a population of seven hundred-fifty people, it was once a prosperous town of one thousand people. For only during the year 1918 however did this occur.
After this one year the population decreased and has remained about the same. This height of growth was the cause of need for more supplies during the World War.
Everyone was willing to help the agricultural communities grow and send goods and food to the army. At this time too, many industries were growing which have also died away.