| Strum, Wisconsin - About 1940 |
| This much improved aerial view of Strum is provided compliments of Ron A. Rosenberg. Ron has family ties to Strum. My comments about the picture follow: A chacteristic look at Strum from the air, looking North. This picture does not include the today's substantial housing area and ball park that are below and right and left in the picture. From the looks of the near vacant lots in the lower right corner of this picture, it is likely that few other buidings existed south of this picture. What you do notice in this picture is the following: The two steeples are the White (north side of river), and Brick (south side of river), churches, as called by local residents. Both Lutheran Churches. Officially, I believe, they were St. Paul's Lutheran Church, and West Beef River Lutheran Church. Each had its own cemetery. The White Church cemetery is directly behind that church, to the right of the church on this picture. The cemetery for the Brick Church was located southeast of Strum about a mile. North of the river and north of the White Church, near the bend in the road, is a square building. This was the Strum Graded School. It served elementary and secondary education needs until about 1950, when Eleva and Strum merged their high school grades and began a new school, Eleva-Strum Central High School, located almost exactly one-half the distance between the two communities. What is now U. S. Highway 10, and may have been then also, is the road running left to right, between the White Church and the School. For years, the Greyhound Bus Lines made more than one trip a day on Hiway 10 between Chicago, Illinois and Minneapolis, Minnesota, picking up passengers at the Standard Oil Station located on the northwest corner of U.S. 10 and Main Street, the wide street that runs north and south in this picture. For years, the operator of that Standard Station was Erling Nymo. Erling, in his great wisdom, married into the Matson-Garson family, when he chose Carla Matson, daughter of Helfred and Mary Matson, to be his wife. From a kid's perspective, another important landmark in this picture would be the hills directly behind and also to the right of the STRUM, WIS label identifier. These hills were great for sliding and skiing in the winter! As you look at the downtown area, about 1 inch up from the bottom of the picture, you can see three of the four feed mills that one time honored Strum. The fourth, I believe, is to the right of the picture on about the same line. All of these units were stationed right along the railroad tracks that ran in a straight line through town. Finally, I believe this picture is from a post card. I recall post cards of Strum being sold in the local Drug Store in the early 1950s and I am sure they were an even greater attraction before that. |
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