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WCWCW Feature of the Week
The Boorman House was built by Benjamin C. Boorman at 211 North Union Street, Mauston, Wisconsin. Construction probably being started in 1875 and being finished in 1876 or 1877.
Mr. Boorman was born September 3. 1830 in Kent County, England, coming to New York in 1840 and was apprenticed at an early age by the owners of Wadsworth Flouring Mills. He came to his father's farm near Delevan in 1845 where he worked for several years.
He went to Delton, Wisconsin in 1852 building the City Flouring and Grist Mill. He married Elizabeth Gregg October 5, 1859. They had seven children, three of whom died in infancy. Daughter Elizabeth died in 1874 and Jane, William and Winnefred survived.
Boorman sold his Delton Mill in 1864 purchasing from the estate of M.M. Maughs the dam, mills and water rights at Mauston. The mills were destroyed by fire on December 28, 1869 with a loss of $30,000.00. He immediately rebuilt but on the north side of the Lemonweir River digging a large race to provide the power, completing the project in 1870. The main building 40 X 70 was three stories high and the flour mill had a capacity of 150 barrels per day and 20 tons of feed. He had a head of water in the new race. In 1873 he built a saw mill on the south end of the dam with a sawing capacity of 40,000 board feet in 24 hours. He also built an adjacent wool carding mill with a capacity of 200,000 pounds per year.
