Stuart D. Klinger was born February 27, 1910, in Streator, Illinois, the son of Sylvester O. and Margaret Singleton Klinger. At the age of four, his family moved from Streator, where his father became the manager of the Woolworth Store. He graduated from Beloit High School and went on to attend and graduate from Beloit College.

On June 18, 1936, Stuart married Eleanor Allen and they celebrated 62 years of marriage before her death in April of 1998. They were survived by two daughters, Barbara and Shirley and two grandchildren. Despite a liberal arts education, Mr. Klinger’s lifelong profession was that of a mechanical engineer, working for Fairbanks Morse and Warner’s, with skills developed on his own and by correspondence courses, earned a reputation as an expert in areas of designing pumps and hydraulics. His desire to learn, his curiosity and his questioning nature, can be seen from a news report in the Daily News in 1924, reporting that, at age 14, he had listened to music from London on his home-made radio, to his photography and to his interest in fire departments and fire equipment. His support and contributions to the Beloit Fire Department was lifelong, in 1996 he was honored by the City Council for his contributions to Beloit and he was made an “Honorary Firefighter” by the members of the Beloit Fire Depart-ment.

Few before him have had the knowledge he had about the history of his community. He was the person first sought when questions were asked about people, streets, buildings or politics of the past. He was elected to the Beloit City Council and in 1948 served as its President. He was a leader in the campaign to build a new high school on 4^th Street, a new Main Fire Station on Pleasant. In 1998 he was honored by being nominated to the Everett Haskell Hall of Fame.

Mr. Klinger was gifted with the eyes of an artist and his art shown through his camera. His personal library contained thousands of negatives. For sixty years his photographs were dedicated to capturing the ever-changing images of Beloit and the people who lived there. “Century City: A Photographic History of Beloit, Wisconsin 1901 – 2000,” published by the Beloit Historical Society, contains the legacy of his artistry. A dedication to Stuart D. Klinger, on the back of this book, says:

“In the mundane aspects of everyday life, Klinger saw details that eluded others and whether he expressed it or not, he went about recording images of his city with a keen sense of history. And so, as many of the older structures were razed in the name of progress, he felt a great loss and intensified his efforts to preserve, at least photographically, what would be gone forever.”

Stuart D. Klinger is remembered for his professional contributions, his civic service as a member of the Beloit City Council, his dedication to the men and women of the Beloit Fire Department and through his photographs the preservation of the images of the people and buildings of Beloit in the past.