The Stroud Home

Today the place of business of Callison-Lough Funeral Home, this structure at 408 West Walnut Street was once the home of H.L. and Sallie Pace Stroud. Harlan Lafayette Stroud was born in Pea Ridge in 1858. He farmed for a time, then went into the mercantile business with his father in Pea Ridge. In 1884 Stroud bought a dry goods store at the corner of First and Walnut Streets in Rogers. A few years later his brother A.B. joined the business as manager of the store.

 


The Stroud home being remodeled early in the 1900s.
The bearded man on the scaffolding is John B. Mills.
Neg. # N017843.
In 1891 Stroud moved his business into a storefront on the north side of the 100 block of Walnut Street. Stroud's continued to prosper, and in 1899 H.L. built a fine brick building at 114-116 West Walnut Street as a new home for his store. (make a link to the Stroud building photo of the month) H.L. Stroud also had a number of other business interests in Rogers. He was president of the Southern Fruit Products Company, an apple cider vinegar plant. He also established the Citizen's Bank and built the Rogers Flour Mill in partnership with another brother, John Wesley Stroud.

Not long after Stroud opened his new store, he began to remodel the family's two-story frame house on West Walnut Street. When the remodeling was completed, the home had ample porches with classical columns. There were quarters for servants on the upper floor and a carriage house in the rear. Certainly it was a home befitting one of the most prominent businessmen of early Rogers. The Strouds later moved away, living first in St. Louis and then in Kansas City. In 1932 their former house became home to Callison's Funeral Home. In the early 1940s the house was expanded to accommodate the needs of the business.