Built in 1915 on Lake Mendota's shore, the Bernard-Hoover Boathouse still survives in James Madison Park. Today it sits in James Madison Park and is the oldest standing boathouse on Lake Mendota, a remnant of an era when commercial boating thrived in the "city of the four lakes. In 1981 the boathouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The story begins with Charles Bernard, born in 1824 in the Grand Duchy of Baden, who immigrated around 1832. He served in the U.S. Marine Band, fought as a soldier in the Mexican–American War, worked as a ship's carpenter, and as a tailor in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania before arriving in Madison in 1853. Here he worked as a tailor and fisherman; in 1855 he bought the property where his boathouse now stands to use as a fishing station.
By 1875 his listing appears: "Charles Bernard Boat Delivery, First Class Pleasure and Fishing Boats and Fishing Material to Let, Landing Near Woolen Mill on Fourth Lake. Bernard's fishing business grew into "the first major commercial boating concern in Madison. From about 1886 to the 1940s, boating excursions were a popular pastime.
From about 1886 to the 1940s, boating excursions on these waters were a popular Madison pastime.