Train kits were carried over and new kits in HO gauge were issued throughout the 1950s. The Rock Island Rocket, Kit 1937, was typical of the 1930s kits that continued to sell after the war.

A full line of railroad kits were developed; the HO gauge Katy (M.K.T.) Box Car, Kit No. R-12, from 1948 is pictured below along with the printed cardboard side ("Authentic Trim Panels") typically used with the rr kits.

It is instructive to see who the people were that Strombeck-Becker considered to be their potential customers. Some, but very little, advertising was done in aviation and modeling publications and ads were also carried in Parent, Children's Activities and a Life toy ad . The full page ad below was carried in a November 1945 women's magazine - read that copy! Strombeck-Becker's photo budget must have been pretty low as the boy and his B-24 is the same as in the B-24 booklet. Not exactly a "turn on" for the potential adult hobbyist buyer is it?. However, Strombeck-Becker knew their market and sold wood kits when many others were going under.

Copy below picture: "Mother, you will help your son in a real creative way if you encourage him in the hobby of modelbuilding. Fingers grow nimbler, imaginations keener. He learns to be more patient. He plans big, creative things for Peacetime America as he builds...Your son will "go for" StromBecKer solid wood model kits...trains and planes...because they're authentic in detail, just like the real thing! You'll approve of them, too, because the parts come cut and shaped ready to assemble. No knives to cut his fingers. No messy chips or shavings. No assembly delay...Choose StromBecKer famous kits...for more fun for Christmas, and after! "

Strombeck-Becker offered a number of dealer promotional items such as built-up models, mats, literature, posters, streamers and model kit displays which displayed all the kit parts along with a completed model and the box - an additional airplane model was usually mounted on top as the photo below shows a 1948 counter cabinet (KD4) featuring the "Pioneer."

Some lightplanes in 1:48 scale (Swift 125, Swift 125 Seaplane, Piper Cub Super Cruiser and Seascout, Bonanza) were included in the early post-WW2 product lineup along with some civil airliners such as the Convair Flagship, C38, DC-3, C35, (1947) and the American DC-6, C36 (copyrighted 1947); these were all-wood kits with wire landing gear struts and stamped metal props. The Boeing B-47, kit C45, (1952) joined more of the early 1950s jet line-up with additional 1:72 scale fighters, the Chance Vought Cutlass, C49, the Sabre Jet F-86, C44, the FJ-2 Fury, C46, the Lockheed F-94, C43, and the Republic F-84, C47. One experimental airplane, the Douglas Skyrocket D558, kit C42, was isssued.

The Hobby Merchandiser ran a 4-page article on Strombeck-Becker. The club program is explained as follows by a company executive: "The recently renewed Captain Jet and Strombecker Model Makers Club 'is cleverly planned to make every boy who builds Strombecker sell his pals and bring them into your store,' explains Charles Rowell, manager of the playthings division." (July 1953).

The counter display shown below is from the same period.

R.D. Becker, at left, presents a plaque to George M. Strombeck in honor of completing 50 years as a teacher of the Men's Fellowship Bible class of the Evangelical Free Church, Moline, Illinois. Photo courtesy of "Bud" Becker. George Strombeck had retired from the company in mid-1943.

The Captain "Jet" promotion for the StromBecKer Model-Makers Club was the subject of a 1953 comic book-style handout available at kit dealers. The story line is shown below - note that some adults are shown on the cover, but the story centers only on the target youth who, in the end, receives the approbation of his father and "Mr. Jones at the bank." The center six pages are a catalog of models which is not reproduced below. Note that there are no girls in this piece.

The playthings division created numerous new toys during this period; mentioned in 1953 was the new hobby-toy, the "Tug-Apart", previewed at that years MIA Toy Fair along with the newly introduced B-47 kit. At one point in the late 1940s, the company produced toys for the Duncan Toy Co. and sometime later, the Duncan yo-yo. A complete line of toy trains (for tots and youngsters) was continued from the pre-war period. The pictures below show a typical toy, Engine Number "999" of the "StromBecKer LINES" railroad, and a pre-school learning toy train, a recurring theme for StromBecKer. Later toy trains, by 1955, featured plastic wheels.

As mentioned above, plastic wheels and redesigned toy trains appeared in the later 1950s. A portion of a StromBecKer brochure, "All Aboard! for the biggest train value in railroading history! It's Strombecker's brand new PLAY TRAIN PACKAGE," is shown below along with the StromBecKer logo for their toy line. Five different "Playtrains" were offered.

In the mid-1950s, Strombeck-Becker began incorporating more injection-molded plastic parts in their new airplane kits. The all-plastic "solid" kit market was expanding rapidly and the StromBecKer all-wood kits probably began to be less competitive, both from an appearance and price standpoint when compared to all-plastic kits which were gaining a foothold. Hawk, Monogram, Comet and others were switching from wood to plastic. Monogram went through the same mid-1950s experiment with wood and plastic in their line of Super Kits. StromBecKer made two small missile kits (Regulus and Matador) using plastic for lifting and control surfaces and nose cones; these two kits had no plan - the back of the box showed the assembly.

The Lockheed XFV-1 V.T.O., kit C50, appeared in 1954. This is a particularly nice kit with a lifting-lid box and which has about one-half of it's parts made from plastic and represents the interim period before StromBecKer jumped into the all-plastic kit hobby field. Note that the box proclaims, "Plastic-Wood Solid Model." Also, it was in this time frame that the capitalization of "BecKer" was omitted in the logo and changed to "Strombecker" - this alteration may have been to de-emphasize R.D. Becker's role in the company as will be noted later in this story.

R.D. Becker comments on the kit business during the crucial 1952 through 1955 years. "The model kit business continued with ever-increasing sales, with a peak sales record of over three million kits sold during the year 1952. Our regular line of toys continued with moderate success, but did not keep pace with the accelerated sales of model kits". This trend did not continue however, as he further states, "During the years 1953 and 1954, the trend away from wooden model kits and the increasing popularity of plastic kits became quite apparent, with an accompanying loss of total sales. During the years of the wooden model kits their sales appeal had increased to the point that their sales accounted for more than 50% of our total production. During the years 1953 and 1954, sales on model kits practically passed out, and it was evident that in order to maintain our leadership in the model kit industry, we would be compelled to enter the highly competitive plastic model kit field.

"At the stockholders' meeting of April 21, 1955, it was reported that the year 1954 had been the most difficult one in more than thirty-five years. The plastic kits made by competitive companies were now available in large volume and at competitive prices, and had caused a loss of 75% of the model kit business since 1952. This had caused a substantial loss, the first in thirty-seven consecutive years, and in the light of this, a decision was made to add plastic production to our facilities. The necessary equipment was purchased and installed, and some of the kits we produced were quite well received. Tooling costs for plastic kits proved to be very high, and in order to properly amortize the heavy die cost, it was necessary to attain a very high level of sales on each item for which we tooled. We also found ourselves in a highly competitive field in which we were the newcomers, without the years of know-how. Consequently, in spite of a fair volume of sales, the years spent in the plastic field were not successful when measured in profits, and we find the President's report of 1959 showing a deficit of $85,394.44."

The B-17F kit, C77, came out in around 1955 and was advertised as a "great new plastic and wood kit." They probably chose the "F" model since the wartime spotter B-17E tooling would work for the wood parts. A number of plastic parts were incorporated such as cockpit windows, turrets, nose, landing gear struts, engines and propellers. This must have been the "last hurrah" for the wood/plastic kits as subsequent new ones were all-plastic. A "window" was in the lid so that the detailed plastic parts could be seen - a pretty good indication that wood use was on the way out and plastic was being emphasized - or at least promoted. The larger photo below is from Dave Kingman who points out that the decal sheet for this kit of the "Yankee Doodle" features the post-1947 insignia for this WW2 airplane!

Succumbing to the plastic boom, as mentioned,the first all-plastic StromBecKer kit was the Navy XF2Y-1 Sea Dart, kit no. D25, which came out in 1955. On the original kit plan, StromBecKer has the following comment: "Another 'first' faithfully reproduced in the Strombecker model, this time in plastic." The kit is very simple as the plan shown below indicates. Note, for example, that there is no "glass" in the cockpit windows. The scale is 1:60. An historic kit because of it's "first" status, the original Sea Dart kit brings a fairly high price - the die for the Sea Dart was secured by Rare-Plane Detective in the 1980s and a limited number were reissued in a plain box.

The plastic kits became more sophisticated as demonstrated by this 1958 kit of the Temco TT-1, kit D36, in the "Pin-Up Box Cover" - the graphic of the airplane on the lid could be easily removed and a clear plastic shield underneath retained the kit parts. A quality kit in 1:42 scale that later was made by Aurora from leased molds in 1962.

Starting in 1957, StromBecKer issued the first kits from the popular Disney productions "Man In Space" and "Mars And Beyond", plus the TWA Moonliner that appeared at the Los Angeles Disneyland until 1962 (Viewmaster reel set #855 "Tomorrowland" has stereo pictures of the defunct TWA ship.) The Disney kits were very successful products for StromBecKer. They followed these with three more space kits based upon Krafft Ehricke designs developed for Convair: the Convair Manned Lunar Recon Vehicle (D37); the Convair Manned Nuclear Interplanetary Vehicle (D38); and the Convair Manned Observation Satellite (D39), from 1959.

The front side of the instructions for D26/D26A unfold into a wall poster (see above for portion). The D26 kit has a full color box as seen above. Walt Disney’s Disneyland Rocket To The Moon Model Kit, D27-100 was used as a Disneyland theme park attraction for Tomorrowland. This passenger carrying rocket is marginal in terms of being a true aerospace design. The first issue of this kit is in a purple and yellow "monochrome" box. The second issue, D27A, was renamed "TWA Moonliner" and had a full color box.

British Selcol kits; each of these boxes is imprinted with "Made in England under license by Selcol." These box pictures, along with others in this section, are provided by Christian Bryan. Does anyone know how much of this kit was made in England?

Walt Disney’s Space Station Model Kit, D32-100. Designed by Wernher von Braun. This doughnut-shaped station utilizes nuclear energy for on-board power. The kit cleverly duplicates the supporting guy wires by including a small spool of thread to string between the hub and the outer ring.

Strombeck-Becker had an exhibit of space kits and flying models at the Hobby Industry Trade Show and Convention in Chicago in February, 1958. In attendance at their booth 58-59 were Charles Rowell, Ray Carlson, Ed McKelvey and Larry Sandberg.

Strombeck-Becker has been given credit by some for inventing the slot-car track. Slot car sets became a large part of the StromBecKer toy business from the late 1950s into the early 1960s. The plastic slot cars were primarily sports cars in 1:24 or 1:32 scale. Motors, tracks and different road-race sets were sold. Though not covered in this article, the slot-cars were a big part of the company's toy effort and must have represented a sizable chunk of their dwindling toy business around 1960. I have scant information on the slot-car business prior to the sale of the toy line in 1961 - if you can provide any information on the Moline production of slot cars I would appreciate it. The ad shown below is from 1960 and establishes the Moline factory as being in the slot car business. A 1972 obituary for Frederick K. Strombeck mentions that he designed and developed the original slot car racing toy.

This Strombecker ad appeared in the October 1960 issue of "American Modeler" magazine. Note that the factory is listed as being in Moline, Illinois. The same issue, on page 6, shows the Strombecker set along with a set from Aurora. The article states that, "The model race car field, especially electric powered 'tracked' autos, is busting out all over." Following the sale of the toy line and the Strombecker trade name in 1961, the "American Modeler", by December 1961, carried an article on the history of slot racing (as opposed to track racing) sets showing Strombecker as a division of Dowst Mfg. The date of the first Strombecker set is unknown to me, but by the end of 1961 there were about a dozen manufacturers in the slot racing field. Polks Modelcraft Hobbies imported the English Tri-Ang Scalextric line in 1957 and Strombecker probably followed soon after. The Aurora and Minic line were in HO scale, but the Scalextric, Strombecker, Hawk, ITC (Ideal), Marx and others were in larger sizes. The slot cars were the single most important toy product for Strombecker at the time of the sale of the toy line and it was this concept that was sold.

Plastic sports car assembly kits in 1:24 scale that were motorized (using batteries - either on-board or in the pylon) were nicely scaled "toys" that were to be used for around-the-pylon type racing play (tethered). The motors are indicated to have been "Made in Japan." The Maserati kit D42 is shown below.

This same D42 kit was packaged in a small mailer box, 4" x 6 1/2" x 1 1/2", and used by the Autolite company as a premium; the box reads, "Here is your Grand Prix Racer Kit from Autolite." The same D42 StromBecKer plan is included.

Play watercraft were also part of the StromBecKer line; the leaflet below shows the electric outboard models around 1960 which used on-board batteries.

Also in 1960, StromBecKer made an Allis Chalmers 1960 D-Series tractor as seen below.

DIVESTITURE OF THE STROMBECKER TOY LINE

As in any company of long standing, many corporate changes occur - some which the company wishes to publicize, others which don't make it into newspaper articles. The death of one founder and concurrent retirement of the other gave control of the company, in 1959, to the second generation, F.K. "Freddie" Strombeck.

Along the corporate way, J.F.'s son Fred K. ("Freddie"), born in 1922, joined the firm and became vice-president (1943). R.D. Becker's brother, T.H. Becker, was at one time the CFO/Treasurer of the company and another brother, Paul, also became part of the firm as Sales Manager in the 1930s but died in a railroad accident in 1938. J.F. Strombeck died in 1959 (on a train while returning from a trip to Seattle for a Young Life board meeting)resulting in F.K. assuming duties as President and General Manager. Designer Andrew Bergstrand's son Harold became the chief designer by 1953 and they worked together on model projects. George Strombeck's son Vernon became a major stockholder in the company when George died, and Vernon later became president and chairman of the board, replacing Fred K. who died in 1972 (see obituary below). R.D. Becker's brother T.H. Becker continued as Company treasurer until his retirement in 1959. When J.F. Strombeck died in May,1959, there were undoubtedly some repercussions within the management and groundwork laid for change - and some bad decisions. But this corporate/family succession list is getting ahead of our story.

J.F. Strombeck was a devout Christian, as was his family, and his sound business ethics, allegiance to the Moline community, and devotion to children's toys were probably related to his religious beliefs (my guess but I'm betting it's a good one). J.F. walked the walk in his belief, and over the course of the years (centering around about 1940), J.F. authored five extensive books on the subject of salvation - and this was while he was an executive of Strombeck-Becker. His books have been kept in print for years with reprints that I've found as late as 1991. Several quotations are offered from reviewers and publishers below to give you an idea of the man who was half of the team behind those kits that we enjoy collecting.

Excerpted from "Disciplined by Grace" in a reprint by Kregel Publications: John Fredrick Strombeck (Dec. 6, 1881 - May 9, 1959) was a Christian businessman who placed his trust in the finished work of Christ early in life. Over the years he served the Lord as a director or advisor to the Belgian Gospel Mission, Dallas Theological Seminary, Moody Bible Institute, etc. With a great desire to communicate the truth of God's grace, J.F. Strombeck authored 5 books: "So Great Salvation," "Shall Never Perish," "Grace and Truth," Disciplined by Grace," and "First the Rapture." Excerpted from a 1991 reprint of "Shall Never Prish: Eternal Security Examined", Arthur Farstad had this to say: You don't have to be a Bible College or seminary type to enjoy this book, and it will be a help to all your friends who need to know about eternal security. Warren Wiersbe writes in his foreward that he was blessed by reading this and other books by Strombeck as a young believer. This reviewer had the same experience. Born of pioneer Swedish stock in 1881, John Fredrick Strombeck went on to be a successful businessman who gave generously to Christian causes and spent his time writing and speaking to everyday Christians on controversial subjects in a sound and scriptural way.... Essentially Strombeck writes biblical theology for the masses and how they (and we all) need it! Denomininationally, he belonged to the Scandinavian-rooted Evangelical Free Church. If interested, you can access some of his material at www.muhammadanism.org.

J.F.'s nephew Vernon started a religious bookstore in Moline and ran Strombeck Press or Strombeck Agency, Inc. which printed J.F.'s books in the 1950s. As mentioned above, Vernon later became president of Strombeck Manufacturing Co. Whoa! - you say, where did that corporate name come from - I thought it was Strombeck-Becker Mfg. Co.

Different sources each tell part of the story but hesitate to put it all together - so here goes my compiled version. Strombeck-Becker Mg. Co. did drop out of the toy business in 1961; their toy line (mostly slot cars) was sold off for a pittance (but not the unpopular wood items). R.D. Becker "elected" to retire in 1959 and retained a seat on the board of directors. He received a $20 radio as a gift for his 48-years of dedication! Note that R.D.'s brother, T.H., was also retired in that same year. Apparently because of differences in management policies with the President, R.D. submitted a letter in February, 1961 resigning his seat on the board and declaring that he had disposed of his corporate stock in the company. At the same time, the company name was changed, eliminating the "Becker" and the corporate name became Strombeck Manufacturing Co. Vernon Strombeck stated in his interview for Swedes in Moline, Illinois that the plastics business and competition in the 1950s brought on "hard times." He said that they were $500,000 in debt and broke in 1962. Vernon borrowed money and paid off bills himself for the sake of the family name and kept the company afloat, though barely. The toy line sale in 1961 was insignificant and didn't help their financial situation at all in 1962. Vernon did not say anything about R.D. Becker's departure from the company, nor anything about his cousin, Fred K., the company's president.

Strombeck Manufacturing Co. didn't sell the wood kit line as part of the Cosmo/Dowst deal as far as I can tell - only the trademarked name "Strombecker" and all of the plastic line. Probably as a means of bringing in some income during the "hard times" of the 60s, they produced a batch of jet kits, D-558, Sabre and F-94A, for Bersted's Hobby-Craft of Monmouth, Ill. (appears on the box only as "Bersted's")which were nicely packaged in sturdy lid boxes; decals in these kits indicate 1967. Since they had sold the "StromBecKer" name to Cosmo, these kits carried the "Woodline" label. These must have been the last wood airplane kits produced by the original company. Today these kits are valued less than the "real" StromBecKers, yet they are probably more historic.

Strombeck Manufacturing Co. ceased to be a family business in 1980 when it was purchased by the Chicago Cutlery Co. Sometime following that sale, the operations ceased in Moline. A grandson of R.D. Becker, Mark Ingebretsen, along with his wife Karen, informed me that they visited Moline in 1992 and found that the old Strombeck Manufacturing building (51st Street and 4th Avenue - the assembly of kits and playthings had been conducted in plant no. 2 in downtown) was still standing - appropriately, one floor was being used for slot car enthusiasts. Mark and Karen visited with Vivian Strombeck, an elderly relative, and contacted some local residents who remembered founders J.F. Strombeck and R.D. Becker.

Vivian Strombeck, mentioned above, was the older sister of Fred K. "Freddie" Strombeck (i.e. the daughter of J.F. Strombeck). Bud Becker visited her last in Moline in 1998 and she has since died. She was a close friend of Bud Becker's sister and in Bud's words, "a fine lady." Bud provided the photo below.

So who bought the toy line and why is there a company today ("today" being up to 11/1/04)with the name of Strombecker Corporation? It was appropriate that the StromBecKer toy line was purchased by the oldest toy manufacturer in the U.S. The company started as the National Laundry Journal trade paper in 1876 in Chicago, published by the Dowst Brothers Company. Samuel Dowst saw the new Mergenthaler Linotype machine at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago (sound familiar?) and found that it could manufacture the collar buttons etc. that Dowst was already making - it led to the manufacture of metal novelties and the first die-cast toy car in 1906, a Model T Ford. Charles O. Dowst's grandaughter "Toots" became the namesake for the now famous TOOTSIETOY in 1924. A Chicago businessman, Nathan Shure, owner of Cosmo Manufacturing Co., was making competitive products - in 1926 Cosmo bought Dowst and the Shure family has owned the line since then. Cosmo/Dowst bought the Strombecker toy line in 1961 and TOOTSIETOY became a division of the Strombecker Corporation. However, more recently, Strombecker, as a corporate entity, has finally vanished. It was announced on November 1, 2004 that the Strombecker Corporation and Processed Plastic Company have merged their two companies into a new entity, Tootsietoy Corporation. "The combination of our two great toy companies will strengthen our ability to bring out the best, and most innovative, new toys," said Dan Shure, president of Strombecker, and David Bergman, president of Processed Plastic, in a joint statement. This merger was destined to be short-lived.

Following on the heels of this merger, the latest in the checkered recent history of the Strombecker Corp. developed on July 15, 2005, putting to an end the name "Strombecker" on corporate rolls.

Nine months after merging with the then-oldest surviving toy company in America, Strombecker Corp.-Tootsietoy, Processed Plastic Company sold its intellectual property assets to J. Lloyd International of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, under the terms of a state liquidation auction.

The 129-year-old Strombecker was launched in 1876 and under the Tootsietoy line of brands included Hard Body die-cast and plastic vehicles, Mr. Bubbles, American West role-play and cap guns and Tootsietoy, among others.

“They were hoping the synergies of the two companies [Processed Plastic and Strombecker] would lift the two companies out of the doldrums—at least that was their theory,” Wheeler (consultant who ran the liquidation auction) said. “Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. Sales didn’t come in as they hoped they would and they ran out of cash.”

J. Lloyd’s principal, Jody Keener said, “We’ll go forward with our sourcing to continue to manufacture and sell the product line.”

Good-bye and farewell to Strombecker.

The slot-car products moved to Chicago in 1962 and you'll see the Strombecker Corp. address of 600 N. Pulaski Road, Chicago 24, Illinois on the Strombecker slot cars beginning in 1962.

R.D. Becker wrote the following which can be said to be the epitaph of the StromBecKer kit line: "At the stockholders' meeting of March 17, 1961, it was reported that due to severe losses in recent years in the plastic field, it would be essential to the Company's survival that this line be discontinued. It was recommended that an agreement be entered into with the Dowst Manufacturing Company of Chicago in which the model kit tools be loaned to Dowst, including the road-racing sets; that the name of the Company be changed from Strombeck-Becker Manufacturing Company to Strombeck Manufacturing Company, that the trademark, trade names, and good-will connected with "STROMBECKER" and "STROMBECK-BECKER MANUFACTURING COMPANY" become the property of the Dowst Manufacturing Company. It was also decided to sell all or part of all equipment for the manufacture of plastic parts." Note that R.D. Becker had resigned from the board and disposed of his stock just the month prior to the decision to sell the plastic toy line to Cosmo/Dowst. To an outside observer, there breeds therein some dissension with the management of the company! R.D. returned to the board in 1963 as operations almost ceased until Vernon Strombeck intervened with an input of funds. R.D. Becker died in 1965.

Frederick K. Strombeck died in 1972 at the age of 50. The following obituary is from the October 30, 1972 newspaper in Moline: Thanks to Donna Foster for the copy.

Frederick K. Strombeck, Firm President, 50, Dies

Frederick K. Strombeck, 50, of 1875 19th. Avenue, Moline, president of Strombeck Manufacturing Co., Moline, and Sconsin Products, Inc., in Luck, Wis., died Saturday in Luthern Hospital.

Services will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday in First Lutheran Church, Moline, with burial in Riverside Cemetery.

Memorials may be made in Young Life, Inc., 2944 16th Ave., Moline.

Mr. Strombeck was born in Moline and he married Delores Carlson May 7, in 1949.

At the age of 11 he had invented the first pre-shaped model toy kits.

Later he designed and developed the original slot car racing toy.

From 1954 until 1952 Mr. Strombeck was a member of the Moline Park Board. In addition he was active in Associated Industries which is now Associated Employers of the Quad Cities.

In 1954 he succeeded his father as president of Strombeck Manufacturing Co. Four years ago he and Vernon M. Strombeck, Moline, founded Sconsin Products, Inc., which also makes custom household items of wood.

Surviving are the widow, two sons, John Frederick II, and Tom William, both at home; his mother, Mrs. J. Fred (Teckla) Strombeck, Moline, and a sister, Miss Vivian Strombeck, Moline.

An obituary in the Times-Democrat of Davenport-Bettendorf, Iowa, also mentions that "Mr. Strombeck developed the original slot car racing model. He sold the concept and name to a Chicago firm now Strombecker Toy Co."

Our collector interest in Strombeck-Becker ends in 1961. I would appreciate information or any corrections or additions or experiences you may have had with the Strombeck family or the Strombeck-Becker company or StromBecKer models. This website is "alive" and can be fed constantly.

Note: In writing this, I became enamored with the triple capitalization, "StromBecKer", which became a trade-logo for the company. However, correctly, I should not have used this form after about 1954/55 when kits began to appear with "Strombecker", and then "STROMBECKER" for the last of the line. An interesting technicality.

COMMENTS FROM INTERESTED PARTIES

This section will be devoted to reprinting comments from viewers of this website. Personal experiences with Strombecker or their models are solicited along with any related material. These comments are not in any particular order. If you would like to add your "Strombeckerania," use the Feedback link in left column.

Thanks to Gerry Marr for these memories of Strombecker.

"What a wonderful history you did about Strombeck - Becker! My great-grandfather, David Engholm (1890-1969), worked there for several years making sure the furnaces kept operating. He left a job at John Deere to work for Strombeck's ( name we always called them.) Also, my grandmother Shirley (Engholm) Anderson now age 90 and her two twin sisters worked there. I am not certain the years. My sister and mom would know more. They've been more active in that area.

"My family owned two houses on 49th Street just one block west from the Strombeck's building in Moline. One was torn down years ago. We just sold the last one last year (2004) after it having been in the family for some 80 years. My sisters and I have several of the Strombeck toys. Trains (one of them in it's original display packaging), several 'Bill Ding' connecting figures, etc. There were many great memories from those toys! Some toys we played with while others were kept in storage as collectables.

"One other interesting memory, at least to me, would be the smell of the smoke from the furnaces during the winter months. I remember extreme cold nights walking in the snow across the street to my grandparents house and seeing the smoke billow from the huge stacks. In those days (1959-65) that was the entire world for my sisters and me. In 1965 my folks moved to East Moline, but my grandparents kept their house at 223 - 49th Street. Again, thank you for the wonderful history!"

The above memories of Strombecker elicited the following comments in July of 2006 from Donna Foster: "What a small world. I was just fishing around the internet for Strombeck information and came across this website...only to find out my brother, Gerry Marr, had left some comments. I can add to his story that we grew up on playing with these toys and still own a few (even lucky enough to have a couple boxes intact). As he stated our great grandfather, David Engholm worked there along with his daughters, Shirley Anderson, Lorraine Cannell & Virginia (Linnie Lee) Swanson. I believe the girls all worked there when it was Strombecks, while Grandpa Dave was Strombeck-Becker. I am pleased to say that I have his work badge with the employee #260 on his picture. Also a 5 & 30 year pin. What sweet memories of our childhood toys that I now let my own granddaughter play with...just goes to show you the quality that was put into a Strombeck trains!!! Granted there are a few that are just "for looks" so that they can be passed down another generation or two! Thanks for the website...there are still some of us out here that appreciate where the toys came from...I'm sure if you have a train out there on your shelf, chances are one of my family members had something to do with it."

Bud Becker has responded to this recollection of David Engholm by his great granddaughter as follows:"I knew David well. He was a wonderful man and a more faithful and loyal employee the company never had. The factory was heated and somewhat powered by the burning of sawdust from all the machines. I can remember Dave coming into the Boiler room (where I always ate my lunch) and struggling with the system as burning sawdust presented all kinds of problems."

Rodney "Bud" Becker also offered these comments as part of a communication in October 2005. "A couple of months ago, I made contact with another part of this history. You reference George Strombeck (who was the engineering genius of the company) and his son Vernon, who took over late in the game. It turns out that some of our good friends here in Minneapolis have a daughter that married Vernon's daughter's son. I knew Sharon, Vernon's daughter, when she was very little as I was several years older. Anyway, I met with Sharon not too long ago and we talked about Strombeck-Becker and the old days. I'm going to get her email address from my friends and have her make contact with your website. She may have some things to add or comment on, although she was quite small when all this late stuff was going on. I'm sure she heard things from her Dad, Vernon.

"Steve, I very much appreciated your referencing "Uncle Fred's" book on doctrines of the Christian faith. In the final analysis, perhaps Strombeck-Beckers mission in life was to establish the financial base from which he could not only write these works that have impacted millions of people, but also that the sacrificial giving by the founders, stockholders and employees of the company funded the incredible number of Christian organizations, churches and seminaries. Your treatment of this subject in fact and tone is very much appreciated.

"I enjoyed particularly seeing the pictures of the 'Strombecker Lines' trains. Both the larger and small ones are right in the middle of my bookcase here."

Return to Strombeck-Becker Manufacturing Co. history, Part One, by Clicking Here.