Crossing the concrete bridge over the Baraboo River, where the inviting pergolas stand at the ends of the dam, one is in the village of Lyons, platted by W. H. Canfield in 1846, the first plat in the Baraboo valley, and named for Lyons, New York. Going several blocks to the right after making the first turn, the traveler is on the Baraboo-Kilbourn road. Swinging again to the right the old Indian ford may be seen in the Baraboo River, the highway along the stream occupying the location of an aboriginal trail. An Early Home The log cabin of Wallace Rowin (sometimes spelled Rowan or Rowen) was near the large elm tree by the driveway leading to the residence opposite the ford. Rowin came into the lead region of Wisconsin during the excitement in the 30's, was an early resident at Cross Plains, the first to enter land in Columbia county, and one of the first to come to Baraboo. Rowin, and wife, the first country judge of Sauk county, Lorrin Cowles, his daughter, and others are buried on the ridge of land several rods to the left as one travels a block or more towards Ochsner Park. The City Park The park was acquired by the city in 1918 and formally opened to the public in 1919. The land was purchased from the Ochsner family, the celebrated Chicago surgeon, Dr. A. J. Ochsner, making his interest in the property a gift to the city. The First House in Baraboo At the crest of the river bank in the southwest corner of the park is where the first log cabin, the first house, was built in Baraboo. In it lived Abe Wood, his Indian wife, and their two daughters. Wood & Rowin built the first dam in the Baraboo River, a portion of it remaining a few rods below and to the left of where the cabin stood. When the water is low some of the timbers may be seen in the bottom of the stream, placed there in 1840. An Old Hop House North of Ochsner Park, on the Dodd estate at 706 Eighth Avenue, stands an old hop house, a reminder of the days when fortunes were made and lost growing the vine in this region. Leaving the park at the street in front of the brick residence, the old Ochsner home, and continuing on Seventh Avenue to number 617, is found the pioneer homestead of Col. D. S. Vittum, once the scene of much social gaiety. It was a fine place in its day, crowning a hill amongst the forest trees, but like many early American homes, the time has come when it may be said: "A jolly place in time of old, But something ails it now." The First School