Jo and I arrived at Brownington Village July 15. We met the Hobacks at their Inn the morning of July 17 and the four of us met with the Birch family July 18. Tom Hoback has started writing a book on my great grandfather William B Strong (WBS) and wanted a tour of the area where he was born and raised until the family moved to Beloit WI in 1851. WBS then was 14 years old. Although I had visited Brownington three times before, I learned a lot more about it on this trip.
Pictures are taken by the Canon SX 150 IS.
After he retired as the President of the Santa Fe RR in 1889, WBS moved to Beloit but spent time in the summers in the village of his birth.
On Prospect Hill next to the Brownington Congregational Church he had built a two story observation tower around 1895. For the bicentennial of the United States a replica of the original tower was built. Above is the third iteration of the tower built a few years ago.
This tersely worded monument at the base of the tower acknowledges WBS.
Jo and I enjoyed this evening view from the tower. Most of the further large lake is in Canada.
Here are Jo, Tom and Sue Hoback at the tower. The two lakes are barely visible in the background.
On July 17 we met with folks at the Orleans County Historical Society in their headquarters building. The efforts of the historical society are focused in the Brownington Village area where they own several buildings. From the left, Katherine French, Tom Hoback, Joan Hugenin and Sue Hoback.
Katherine French gave us a great overview of the history of the Brownington Village while the Strong family lived there. It was on the main trail (it could hardly be called a road in the early 1800s) from Boston to Montreal.
This is the building in which WBS father operated a temperance inn – no alcohol was served. Another inn across the road served the imbibers. The family lived in this building from the early 1830s until 1851 when they moved to Beloit.
The location of the building pictured above is indicated in the above drawing by “Rice and Goings” on the north side of the road . The building burned after the turn of the century, and a fairly modern house is on the site now.
Above is the Alexander Twilight house built about 1830. Across the street is the Old Stone House built about the same time. He called in Athenian Hall.
Mr.. Twilight put up this building as a dormitory for students who did not live within walking distance from the Orleans County Grammar School located near the Congregational Church. The school building has been moved to another site in the village. The school was a combination high school and junior college. and attracted students from a wide area, even Canada.
Joan Hugenin gave us a nice two hour tour of the building, now a museum with various nearby communities featured in separate rooms. The historical society bought it about 1925 to avoid it being town down for reuse of the building stones.
This is Brownington Congregational Church. WBS paid for the steeple being added, plus a bell, now displayed on the ground in front of the church. It bears an inscription that it is in memory of WBS’ grandparents
Two generations of Strong's are buried in the church cemetery.
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