In 1928, Strong bought 360 acres of wooded property north of Oregon, Illinois which included a limestone bluff overlooking the Rock River.

He was familiar with the area because he and Josephine often stayed at nearby Bee Tree Farm, the summer home of his father-in-law, Towner K. Webster.

The original concept was to build a simple barn and silo structure, but it quickly grew into something resembling a castle, with 16 bedrooms, 9 baths, 8 fireplaces, gargoyles and secret passageways.

[2] The final Tudor style architecture was influenced by Strong’s travels to Europe, his English ancestry, and the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott.

The rustic Strong family retreat, which they called Stronghold, was in many ways the antithesis of San Simeon.

Josephine thought the hood was too shiny and had it distressed by beating it with rusty chains, a treatment used on fireplaces throughout the house.

The staircase, which used unseen steel rods to cantilever each tread out from the wall, seemed to float as it spiraled up the height of the tower.

At the time of its construction, Lorado Taft’s Black Hawk Statue was visible around a bend down river.

[1] In 1932, Josephine hired an unemployed Russian artist, Nicholas Kaisaroff, to decorate parts of the castle.

[5] Every October, performers and people dressed in period costumes wander about the castle grounds and sell their wares.

[3] To accommodate its expanded range of activities, the center has built five modern buildings and a number of rustic cabins and structures.