EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2013.
When this little crossroads village was founded in the early 1800s, it was situated within the boundaries of Richland County, and was named Corsica because the Harding family patriarch who settled there was wholly inspired by the epic life of Napoleon.
If you go looking for it today, you’ll have to follow State Route 97 a few miles west out of Richland County and look for a sign that says Blooming Grove. The name of the village was changed about the time that the township it occupies was shaved off of Richland County and appended to Crawford County.
It’s not likely that anyone would have taken these photos of Blooming Grove in 1920, except that Warren G. Harding was elected president of the United States that year, and he was born there.
In 1923, during the third year of his administration, President Harding purchased the farm in Blooming Grove where he had been born, intending to restore the house for use as his summer cottage after he retired. Unfortunately, his life lasted only a few more months, and the humble frame home where he was born fell to ruin in the following decades.
