Congratulations! You found the photo studio!
Congratulations! You found the photo studio!
This building at 11 N Madison has probably the most unique history out of all the buildings in Waupun. The building started out life two blocks south of its current location, just outside the walls where it was an original part of the Wisconsin State Prison. Once a three story wood structure used for housing female inmates. The inmates were kept on the first 2 levels and the Warden and his family lived on the third.
Some time after its relocation to its current address, in 1880 this building housed the first telephone exchange system. With the telephone line running from here to the home of the editor of the Waupun Times.
Johnson Photography was established by Alfred "Stanley" Johnson jr. in 1891. Stanley was best known for his "tall tale" postcards depicting larger than life scenes. Creating these postcards multiple photos were used. Large images were cut out and pasted onto other photos to create the hard to believe effect. This technique is a lot like modern day photoshop. His son Alfie ran the studio until taken over by Val Elster in 1934. Val operated for only a few years before selling to Erwin Fletcher who passed the studio on to his son, current Historical Society President Rick Fletcher who operated his photography business until 2009 making this historical building at 118 years, the longest continuously operating photo studio in Wisconsin.
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The next clue is:
FIND ME ON A CORNER, JUST HANGING AROUND.
COME INSIDE MY SHOPPE AND SEE THE TOWN!