The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Stronghurst is a railroad town; it was founded beside the tracks of the Chicago, Santa Fe and California Railroad in 1887 when E.B. Purcell bought 160 acres of swampy ground from Joseph Dixson.
Mr. Dixson swung a good deal as he unloaded untillable land and then became the land agent for the railroad and sold prospective villagers house lots.
Glen McElhinney, grandson of S.P. Nevius, said that at one time cattails grew abundantly on the corner of Nichols and Broadway when his grandparents built their home (present day residence of the Greipentrog family).
Perhaps, that is why villagers have been plagued by seep water for years.