BELOIT VISIT, WM. B. RESEARCH

We spent 8 days in late July parked at the farmstead of Peter and Sue Hanewall. I spent much of my time on weekdays doing research on my great-grandfather, William B. Strong. I am digging up facts on his life in Beloit before and after his railroading career to assist Tom Hoback and his professional researcher in assembling facts for a book on Wm B. Tom plans to write. So far I have gotten information from Beloit College, Beloit Public Library archives, Beloit Historical Society, Beloit City Engineer, Rock County Historical Society, Rock County Register of Deeds, Beloit Township  and Turtle Township.

Our hosts, Peter and Sue Hanewall.

In the office of the Beloit College Historian I learned that Wm B attended one semester of the Beloit College Academy in 1851 when he was 14. Classes were held in this building, Middle College, then the only structure on the campus.

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Four Indian mounds are located on Partridge Farm, the farm Wm B assembled  on the outskirts of Beloit after he retired as President of the AT&SF Railroad in 1889. They are listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. Many farmers have leveled these kinds of mounds to create more acres of farmable land, but Wm B did not. The mound above is in the shape of a turtle with a very long tail. That below is readily visible due to its height.

When I lived in Beloit I had the impression that the Strong Building was named for Wm B. Not so, I discovered. It was built in 1929 by his son, Fred Moore Strong. Wm B died in 1914. Wm B may have bought the land on which the present Strong Building stands with a frame multi-story building on it.

The Strong Building is located at State and Grand in the heart of downtown Beloit.

Wm B provided the money to build and furnish the Gridley Congregational Church, next to the cemetery for which he donated 15 acres of land for expansion. It is located at Strong and Partridge Avenues.

Wm B also created three subdivisions for homes near the cemetery and church.

Here is the Strong Family plot in the cemetery. Wm B’s grave stone is in the lower left. My parents and other close relatives are buried on the opposite side of the Strong Monument.