A Landmark of Distinction

Strong City took its name from William Barstow Strong, a Vermont-born railroader who became president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe on July 12, 1881, the year the depot town was renamed. He had worked his way up as a station agent and superintendent on other lines before joining the Santa Fe as general manager. Under him the Santa Fe grew to about 7,000 miles of right-of-way, then the largest railroad in North America, and he held the presidency until 1889. Barstow, California, where the railroad kept large shops, and Stronghurst, Illinois, are named for him too.

What the plaque says

A Landmark of Distinction Cottonwood Falls has been the Chase county seat since both town and county were established in 1859. The first log cabin courthouse was replaced in 1873 by this stately building of native limestone and walnut, which today is the oldest Kansas courthouse still in use. It was designed in French Renaissance style by John G. Haskell, who was also the first architect of the statehouse in Topeka. Prospects for Cottonwood Falls received an early setback when it was bypassed by the Santa Fe railroad in 1871. The depot, located two miles north, was first called Cottonwood but in 1881 it and the community which grew up around it were renamed Strong City. This "twin city" situation led to one of the state's first interurban systems. Horsecar service between the two towns began in 1887 and this courthouse square was the southern terminus of the two-mile railroad. In 1918 the company converted to a gasoline-powered motor car, but the track that served well for horsecars could not handle the heavier and faster equipment. Improved technology in this instance only created difficulty, and in 1919 the interurban ceased operations. Erected by Kansas Historical Society and State Highway Commission

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Chase County Courthouse — steps away
  A Second Empire courthouse of local limestone, built in 1872 and 1873 to John G. Haskell's design and, by the county's account, the oldest courthouse in Kansas still in daily use.
• Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve — 4.3 mi
  A Chase County cattle ranch of the 1880s with its limestone house, three-level barn and one-room school intact, set among 40 miles of trails through unplowed tallgrass where bison and cattle both graze.
• Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park — 19 mi
  The Kaw Nation's own land south of Council Grove, site of the last Kanza villages in Kansas, with stone house ruins, a dance arbor, and since 2024 the sacred red boulder Iⁿ'zhúje'waxóbe.

More markers nearby

• Chase County & the Bluestem Pasture Region of Kansas — 3.0 mi
• Bluestem Pasture Region — 19 mi
• Council Grove — 20 mi
• Emporia--Home of William Allen White — 21 mi