Towns and Nature: Stronghurst, IL: Grain Elevator and Lost/Sante Fe Depot

Steve Biever posted
Eastbound at Stronghurst. Sept. 17, 2025.

It amazes me how large some grain elevators are even though they don't have any rail service. This image is tall because I included all of the shadow for the north bin.

Satellite

While trying to determine if the building on the right in this view was the Santa Fe depot (update: it is. see below.), I noticed what looks like a feed mill just to the left of that building in the far background.

Street View, Jul 2025

So I checked it out.

Street View, Jul 2025

Google Maps labels this as Ideal Ready Mix, but this facility looks like a feed mill. In fact, the yellow sign on the door reads "Alpha Feed Mill." A ready-mix concrete supplier would have piles of material laying around.

Street View, Jul 2025

A view of the north end of the main elevator.

Street View, Jul 2025

The big bin on the right of the above view is distorted. So this is a more realistic view of those two bins. I wonder how many bushels those bins can hold.

Street View, Jul 2025

Santa Fe Depot

Andy Zukowski posted
Santa Fe Depot in Stronghurst, Illinois. 1912 Photo postcard taken by CU Williams

Shawn Volpe: Last I knew it is still standing. On the walls in the garage part (old freight room) someone painted C.SF.&C RR.. The distinct odor of old growth lumber still lingers. Always loved that depot, and hope it doesn't get , or hasn’t been razed.

James Brown: Shawn Volpe "C.S.F.&C." The Chicago, Santa Fe & California. The railway subsidiary chartered by the ATSF in December 1886 for the purchase of another Illinois railroad and the construction and initial operation of the ATSF's mainline extension from Kansas City to Chicago.

Richard Fiedler shared