In the late 1880's, Hamilton County sported the finest 1/2-mile trotting racetrack in the area. It was located about a quarter of a mile west of the Isaac Walton Park on Fenton Avenue, just north of 300^th Street. The track drew a regular crowd of horse owners, who had a place to test their skills against any and all comers. How the track came into being has an interesting history.

It all started when Dr. John J. Lewis married Hannah Jane Bell on September 5, 1859, just two years after our county was named. They had two children, John P. Lewis and his sister. The doctor opened a practice in Ridgeport in Boone County at the time the post office was named Mineral Ridge. The small village was located just south of Stratford. The doctor lived two miles east of Ridgeport on a farm. It is hard to imagine his getting very rich from his practice. An early billing dated June 19, 1876, lists an office call at $2.00, with each subsequent visit at $1.50. A baby was delivered for $10.00, if the delivery took no more than four hours. There was an additional charge of 75 cents per hour if the time was more than four hours. The most expensive charge, according to his records, was $50.00 for amputation of a leg at the thigh.

Dr. Lewis' practice took him all over the countryside around Ridgeport and Stratford. He was well acquainted with the farmers and started buying up mineral rights for their farms. He also owned three farms in Boone County. When large deposits of coal were discovered, he became very wealthy. By the time his son was in his teen years, the doctor and his wife separated and the two children went to live with friends in the area. The doctor made out a will which left his estate to his son, John P. Lewis, when he became of age (that was 21 years) or when he married.

Dr. Lewis died on November 20, 1881, in Stratford, where he had moved after his separation. But, at this time, his son, Johnny P. Lewis, was only 16 years old. He was impatient for his inheritance. He did not want to wait, so he met and married Emma J. Johnson on December 24, 1884, in Hamilton County. In March, 1885, he sold all of his father's farms in Dodge Township, Boone County, and moved his bride to land he bought in Hamilton County. In May, 1885, he purchased the southeast quarter of Section 9, Webster Township from Emily M. Prestage. The purchase price was paid in cash: $2,000 for the south half and $1,000 for the north half. The country road, now Fenton Avenue, cut through the east part of the parcel. He built his home on the east side of the road and then constructed the very large, three-story barn pictured here. Hay was stored in the top level, horses were kept in the middle level, and buggies and tack were kept in the lower level on the east side of the barn. He hired a black boy to serve as groom for his stables. The groom lived in quarters in the southwest corner of the barn. He was outfitted in the Lewis racing colors.

Johnny constructed a half-mile racetrack on the west side of the road. Here he regularly scheduled trotting races, featuring his own horses with the Lewis colors. He and his wife did no farming. Johnny lived the life of a country gentleman. The couple was often seen by the neighbors driving the countryside in his buggy. His horses were not the fastest, but he had plenty of money and kept up his horse-breeding business. Gradually, it became apparent that he was losing money to other horsemen on nearly every race. He kept hoping that his luck would change. By 1887 he had run through his inheritance. He went to the First National Bank in Emporia, Kansas, and mortgaged his property for $2,400. By this time, his wife had left him.

He never made any payments to the bank so they started foreclosure proceedings against him in Hamilton County. Sheriff C. H. Neeley advertised a sheriff's sale in the Webster City Tribune on January 14, 1888. The sale was conducted at 10 o'clock forenoon at the front door of the courthouse by C. F. Weston, acting sheriff. The former owner, Emily M. Prestage bought the quarter section back for $2,452.06, paying court costs of $52.06.

Johnny Lewis left the area and was never seen again. It was reported in the newspaper that someone saw him in Montana, where he was working as a lift operator at a copper mining operation. The Webster City Tribune listed John P. Lewis on the delinquent tax list for property in Ross Addition of Stratford on November 9, 1892. This was the location of his father's house in Stratford.

For a long time Frank Mann owned the property on both sides of Fenton Avenue. Today, Mike Mason owns the land on the west side of Fenton Avenue, where the track was located. The property on the east side of the road, where the house and barn were located, is now divided between four owners: Elizabeth Miller, Charles and Nancy Draeger, Kirk and Cynthia McCollough, and Dennis Goodrich.