Elgin historian Steve Stroud remembered as tenacious, caring man

Elgin historian Steve Stroud, well-known for his passion for research into old local homes and cemeteries, is remembered by loved ones as a tenacious and caring man.

Stroud, 76, of Elgin, died peacefully at Advocate Sherman Hospital on April 5 after suffering cardiac arrest the night before and having undergone open heart surgery in late March, his wife Laura said.

"He was a good man to me," she said. "I was so fortunate to have such a gentleman and a loving husband, and I miss him a lot."

Stroud wrote "There Used to Be," a three-volume series about the history and architecture of old homes in Elgin, and "Silent City: A History of Elgin's City Cemeteries." He highlighted many of the city's historic bungalows on the website elginbungalows.com and was working on a second website to chronicle the "lost homes" of the city.

Mayor David Kaptain praised Stroud at the city council meeting Wednesday, calling him "a great member of our city" who did a lot to advance Elgin's reputation.

Stroud was originally from Aurora and served in the U.S. Army from 1960 to 1963. He and his wife married in 1992, and the next year he retired from his work as a languages teacher.

His passion for local history was sparked sometime around the mid-to-late 1990s by a book that belonged to his wife about the old, lost homes of Chicago, Laura Stroud said.

"The more he got into it, he just absolutely loved it," she said.

A tenacious man devoted to accuracy, Stroud spent hours on his hobby, his wife said.

"He was always in his 'man cave,' he was always at his computer and he was always looking and searching and researching," she said.

He also paid regular visits to the Elgin Township Assessor's office, whose basement was his treasure trove, his wife said. "They were very kind to him to allow him to do that. He would go down in the basement and pull out records and get the pictures he needed," she said.

He served on the board of the Elgin History Museum, where he volunteered three times a week and co-chaired with his wife the annual Bluff City Cemetery Walk. He also served on the design review subcommittee for the city's heritage commission.

Visitation starts at 4 p.m. today and ends at 7 p.m. with a service at Symonds-Madison Funeral Home, 305 Park St., Elgin. Visitation will continue from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday, then a funeral procession with a horse-drawn hearse will lead to interment with military honors at Bluff City Cemetery, 945 Bluff City Blvd., Elgin.