The following is taken from History of Stromsburg 1872-1997.  Copies of the 370-page book, which is the most recent history of Stromsburg, are still available for purchase at the Stromsburg City Office.  The book is also available for use at the Stromsburg City Library, as are older histories of the city and Polk County.

Stromsburg in the Making

Founded June 1872

In 1870, a party of men met at Galva, Illinois, to organize a colony with Nebraska as their goal. Among those men were Lewis Headstrom and Olof Netsell. The former was chosen for the trip to select a suitable site for the proposed colony. Lewis Headstrom had been planning to make a change of climate on account of failing health, so gladly accepted the mission.

He stopped in Omaha and consulted with land companies and as a result of his inquiry, Polk County was decided upon as an ideal spot for the settlement. As he looked over the land, he saw as if in a vision, a town built on the banks of the Blue River. He returned with his report, with a determination to locate in the land of his dreams.

A townsite company was formed at Galva, with C. M. Sanders, president; Lewis Headstrom, secretary; O. Netsell, John Buckley and K. Nordling, trustees. The office was maintained at Galva until 1877, when it was removed to Stromsburg. After it was moved to Stromsburg, others joined the company and Charles Carlson was named chairman and J. P. Smith, secretary. The men who constituted the body and laid out the town of Stromsburg had planned wisely in selecting a site. In laying out the plan for the new town, a central block was set aside for a city park on the four sides of which the business houses were built. This park was set aside hoping that the court house would be located here, but when it was found that the location at Stromsburg had been defeated the town site company presented the park to the village in 1883.
Lewis Headstrom, wife and daughter came to Stromsburg in 1872, to make this their permanent home. The town had been laid out on paper, but no buildings had been erected, and it was Mr. Headstrom who drove the first stake, built the first dwelling and the first business building. 

The country surrounding the new town was sparsely settled by a few homesteaders whose homes consisted mostly of sod houses and dugouts.

The early settlers had to encounter all kinds of hardships. Those who arrived in 1872 broke their land in 1873, preparatory to a crop in 1874, but that year the grasshoppers made their appearance and cleaned up the crops. Some tried to protect their gardens by covering them, but the grasshoppers ate the covers. This was discouraging and affected the people in town. Business that had been none too good for lack of numbers of purchasers became worse for lack of money and the pioneers had a hard struggle. It took people of courage and determination to open up the new country, but they were not discouraged but struggled on until better days came.

Supplies had to be secured at Seward or Columbus. With no roads and using the trail that had been made by the first traveler, it was a wearisome journey. Sometimes the early settler had to make the journey on foot, trudging the long trail with a sack of supplies on his back. Among these very early settlers, those preceding the town, were: C. H. Morrill, J. P. Smith, A. P. Buckley, Nels F. Peterson, Thomas Record, Peter E. Moberg, H. C. Query, Jonas Backstrom, Peter Nelson, E. L. Marquis, Wm. T. Dodge, and others whose names we do not know.

As the little village of Stromsburg grew, and became known as a Swedish settlement, a number of Swedes who made their homes in Iowa and Illinois came too Polk County to take up homesteads. The word was carried across the sea to relatives and friends in Sweden and a number of emigrants left their native land coming directly to Polk County. They bought land or took up homesteads, as soon as they could become citizens of their adopted country, settling mostly west and north of the new town and the village of Stromsburg became their trading center.

In 1991, Dr. Frederick C. Luebke, professor of history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, visited Stromsburg and said, "There are more Swedes and Danes in Nebraska than in any other Great Plains state." In the United States, the county with second highest proportion of persons with Swedish ancestry is Nebraska's Polk County with 19%. The third highest in the United States is Phelps County with 18%. The following, from the records of an early historian, explains the naming of the town of Stromsburg: "It was in 1870 that Lewis Headstrom made his first trip to Nebraska, became enchanted with the climate and beautiful prairies of Polk County. He returned to Illinois and interested his friends, which resulted in a colony being organized for locating and settlement in Polk County. The name of Stromsburg was taken from his name with the 'burg', meaning 'village', added." However, in 1975, when Geraldine Rystrom and her mother, Hannah Carlson, visited Sweden some new and interesting information was gathered. Lewis Headstrom's birthplace was the small village named Stromsburg and is a part of Ockelbo. It has a Blue River running through the meadows close to the house where he was born. He was named Lars Jonsson Lax but as so many did, he changed his name when he arrived in America.

Headstrom came to America on the vessel Carolina. In 1856, 155 people from Ockelbo were on this same vessel as immigrants to America. These included Lewis Headstrom and his future wife and her parents; his sister, Kerstin, who married John Hedbloom; the four Buckley brothers; Mats Samuelson Bjorling, who married Margareta Headman; Erick Lundin who married Helena Sofia; Lisa Lyrberg Bergman who married John Ersson Lind; and Olof Persson, father of Peter Nordberg who arrived in Stromsburg in 1872. 

Mr. Headstrom was the moving spirit in the progress of the town. It took men of energy and action, generous and far seeing to make dreams come true, and Mr. Headstrom was that man. He started the first store, became postmaster when the income of the office was $11.00 per annum and held it until the income reached $1100.00. He was a member of the school board in the early days of its existence and when the settlement became a village served on the town board. When the village was made into a city of the second class, he became the first mayor. He was interested in everything that was for the development of the town, and was a civic-minded leader and supporter of every enterprise.

During the first four years, the settlement grew in numbers and in 1876 numbered 100 people. The following business firms were located in Stromsburg in the early 70's, some for a few months and others for longer periods: A. Burgstrom, merchant tailor; L. Headstrom, general merchant, real estate and insurance; Dr. E. C. Houston, associated with a drug store; Headstrom, Buckley & Company, agents for farm machinery, the firm consisted of L. Headstrom, J. B. Buckley and C. H. Morrill; J. M. White, harness; N. Nordstrom, shoe shop; P. T. and A. P. Buckley, manufacturers of brooms and brushes; Smith & Dodge, farm implements. As time went on, other business firms located here, many new concerns started up, many changes were made and the village grew and prospered. In 1880, the population had reached 400.

The first business house was built at the northwest corner of the square and stood for seventy years. The first dwelling was on the site of the present Fredrickson apartments, one block north of the square and was torn down in 1916. Both were built by Lewis Headstrom and the dwelling was his home while he lived in Stromsburg. Later on, buildings were erected on the west side of the square which became the prominent business section and remained so until the fire of 1887, when that section of business houses was practically wiped out, and business was shifted to the north and east sides of the square. After the fire all that was left on the west side was the old Windsor hotel, and for several years only the holes in the ground indicated the past activities on that side. On the south side, business firms had quickly taken up the brick block built in 1881.
The City Park has been a monument to those who foresaw the future and has been a great asset to the town. When the Park was laid out, L. Headstrom, C. H. Morrill, the Buckleys and J. P. Smith planted the trees, but in the dry years the young trees suffered and had to be replanted.

This was done by the same men with the help of others. In later years, shrubs and flowers have made the park very attractive. After the trees became large enough to create some shade, the Fourth of July celebrations, the "grand" political rallies, and many picnics of the olden days were held in the Pak. These gatherings inside the old hitching rails, with teams hitched on all four sides, were great affairs, and brought large crowds to town, the majority bringing their basket dinners and everybody came early and stayed late. When the trees were small all such gatherings were held in the grove south of town on Prairie Creek.



Stromsburg flourished from the beginning, as did most towns in the middle west and soon it became the metropolis of the county. Good business houses, attractive homes, and other modern improvements, splendid schools, and good churches were far beyond the vision of the pioneer town builders. 
During the first ten or eleven years the town was under the jurisdiction of the county. Taxes were levied by the county and its affairs looked after as any unincorporated village, until in August 1883, the town was incorporated into a village. Up until that time there were no records available and this history is written mostly from tradition.


The Village of Stromsburg
Incorporated August 27, 1883

The town had grown to number several hundred inhabitants and the laws of Nebraska permitted the incorporation into a village after a community numbered 200 or more. It was decided to incorporate and, on August 27, 1883, a petition signed by 56 residents of the community was presented to the county commissioners of Polk County and the petition was granted. On that date Stromsburg, which for eleven years and two months had been but a community, became a village. A petition was presented to the commissioners asking that A. L. Sprague, John Castile, H. Vogel, Geo. H. Butler, and W. A. Post be named the trustees. This petition was granted and those named therein became the first officers of the village. At the first meeting of the board A. L. Sprague was elected chairman; J. L. Johnson, village clerk; R. E. McConaughy, village treasurer; J. M. Green, marshal; H. Cutting, street commissioners; and J. P. Smith, police judge. Up to that time Stromsburg was under the jurisdiction of the county, with only a constable and justice of the peace as precinct officers.

Immediately after the organization of the board, a petition was presented asking that $200 bonds be voted for a jail and $200 for sidewalks. This petition was refused and the board borrowed the money and spent $200 for sidewalks and built a jail. The jail was west of the square and it burned down in 1890.
The first village election was held on April 1, 1884. J. H. Coleman and H. Cutting acted as judges and H. C. Skelton and P. E. Mattison as clerks. The old board was re-elected, with the exception that O. Headstrom was elected in place of George H. Butler, who had resigned.

In 1884 twelve kerosene street lamps were placed about the square.

It was in these early days of the 1880s, and even back into the 1870s, when the little hamlet on the prairie was growing and learning to stand alone, so to speak, that it was perhaps most active. Young men, full of pep and determination, had come west to make their fortune and there was something doing all the time. It was then that the town was striving and thriving. It had a large trade territory, reaching into York County on the south, Hamilton County on the west, and Butler County on the east. On the north, Osceola, Clarks and Columbus were competing for a share of the trade.

The village had its ups and downs, but they were mostly "ups" because the early residents were enthusiastic and working together for the good of the town. 
 

The history books include pictures and stories about many of the families of Stromsburg. The 1972 edition features the following families:

Charles (Charlie) and Teckla (Lundgren) Anderson 
Gust A. and Sophia Augusta (Nelson) Anderson 
J. A. and Jennie (Hanson) Anderson 
John F. and Mary C. Anderson 
John Henry and Emma Josephine (Peterson) Anderson 
Jonas Mary (Hedman) Anderson 
William Henry and Matilda (Fusby) Baker
Myron and Margaret (Nickell) Barber
Mr. and Mrs. P. O. Berglund 
The Buckley Brothers
Charles A Burke (Bjork) and Jennie Levina Carlson Burke 
Andrew Christian and Ida (Johnburg) Carlson 
Charles H. and Ida (Anderson) Carlson 
Nels Fredrick and Mary (Peterson) Carlson 
Andrew C. and Margaret (Samuelson) Donelson 
Rev. Charles A. and Ida Carolina (Johnson) Falk 
Nathan and Mary A. (Steward) Fellows
Charles and Hilma (Widga) Flodman 
John A. and Josephine (Headstrom) Frawley
Fredrick and Hedda "Hattie" (Olson Stark) Fusby 
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Green 
Mr. and Mrs. John Alfred Gustafson 
Frank E. and Svea (Lundgren) Halden
Lewis and Carrie (Anderson) Headstrom
Albert B. and Mary Lea (Gaunt) Hedbloom 
John H. and Christeen (Headstrom) Hedbloom
Andrew and Anna Hedman 
Mr. and Mrs. John Peter Hult
Jonas Adolph and Mathilda (Hult) Johnson 
Justus and Alma Johnson 
Samuel J. and Christina (Swenson) Johnson
Charley and Mary Louis (Knago) Knerr 
Mr. and Mrs. Emmanuel Lindblade
Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Lind 
Jonas P. and Bertha (Johnson) Lindgren 
John and Hannah Sundgren) Malm
Mr. and Mrs. James Marker 
Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Morrill
Olof and Matilda Josephine (Wilson) Netsell 
Martin and Kate Sophia (Fox) Newcomer
Peter and Karin (Erickson) Nordberg
Peter Olaf and Hannah (Hedman) Nordlund 
Carl R. Norman 
John L. and Augusta M. (Eckberg) Olson 
Anders William and Clara Mathilda (Landstrom) Peterson
Jonas P. and Christina Marie (Nelson) Peterson 
Peter and Carolina Peterson 
Thomas and Margaret Record 
August and Emma (Fusby) Rystrom
Frank and Anna Carolina "Lena" (Kinberg) Rystrom
Alex and Hattie M. Scott 
Irvin and Jennie (Irwin) Scott 
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Shidner 
Andrew Olof and Christina (Ericson) Shostrom 
J. P. and Adalne (Shoemaker) Smith 
Jamier Edmund and Julia (Sealey) Stevens 
John and Anna Kajsa Sundberg 
Jonas and Anna (Naslund) Sundberg
Chattie Coleman Westenius Swalley 
Andrew J. and Anna M. (Olson) Swanson
John Herman and Anna (Nelsson) Twarling 
Andrew and Brita (Nelson) Weden 
Henry and Hannah (Holm) Westring 
Peter and Helen (Anstrom) Widga 
Mr. and Mrs. Horace Willits
John Wilson 
Andrew and Johanna (Rystrom) Younglund


The 1997 edition contains more about many of the above families and, in addition, the following families:

Nels J. and Christina (Carlson)Anderson
John and Elizabeth (Lydberg) Lind
Gustaf and Carolina Nordstrom
Samuel August and Martha Kristina (Bloom) Samuelson

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