Fire Totals Old Strasburg School Building

A landmark in Strasburg for close to 100 years was destroyed by fire Friday morning. The former Strasburg School building is a total loss. 

The owner of the building, who is from Orlando, Florida, was trying to renovate the building, converting the south end into apartment units and the north end into a bar and restaurant. The owner was burning some of the removed materials, but the fire grew in intensity and firefighters had to be summoned about 10:30am to battle the blaze. As one area firefighter said, "The controlled burn got out of control."

Firefighters from Strasburg, Stewardson, Windsor and Shelbyville all fought the fire, which continued to burn into the noon hour. No one was injured.

(THE ARCH AT THE TOP OF THE SCHOOL BUILDING STILL BORE ITS ORIGINAL IDENTITY)

The school was completed in 1925, but the gym was not finished until 1940. That gym later became the dance floor for The Trestle, which was a popular area nightspot for many years. The building, along with the building in Stewardson, were no longer needed when the two districts consolidated into the Stew-Stras School District and a new building was built in a central location along Illinois Route 32 between the two communities.