Name/Title
Business, Histories, Hotel, Brief History of Early Waupun HotelsDescription
Brief History of Early Waupun Hotels: Prepared by Edith Moul Scott, June 1959. Page 6.
Excerpts from a letter written by Dr. Benjamin F. Harding to the Waupun Homecoming Committee, dated Feb. 7, 1902, from Mansfield, Ohio.
"I recall many pleasant memories of childhood that was spent in my native town. I was but ten years of age when my parents moved from Waupun to the State of Ohio, and the recollections of many native town are as fresh and dear to me as if it were but yesterday. The old OHIO HOUSE which is a few doors west of the railroad, on Main Street, was the place of my birth, my grandfather being the landlord, who, no doubt, many of the older citizens remember as Joshua Crawford. This was in 1861.
"The COMMONS that extended north and east of my home constituted my playground. Many times I have carried oats from my father's barn in my hat to feed the Indian Ponies that were grazing in the fields north of the Morse Lumber Yard and near the river.
"Rock River was to me the greatest stream of water I could think of. I have fished from the upper to the lower mill dams. I with many of my schoolmates have bathed in the race that furnished water power at the old stone mill.
"I recall the first circus that I ever attended. The tents a one ring affair, were pitched in the field north of Morse's Lumber yard, near the river. I believe it was known as the Dan Rice Circus."
Dr. Harding was the father of President Warren G. Harding. His mother was one of Joshua Crawford's daughters. Two other daughters were Mrs. Louis Johns, a practical nurse in Waupun and the mother of the former Mabel Johns, and a Mrs. Bancroft, whose husband was a minister and was at one time chaplain at the prison. He was a tall slender man with white hair and a white beard.
Dr. Harding's father was Alfred A. Harding and is listed "Civil War" among Waupun soldiers from the North Ward. In the Directory of 1866, or news notes: Harding and Johns bought the wagon shop of S. G. Clough, who had been in business as early as 1858.