John Gesicki was a lifelong resident of Poniatowski who owned and operated Gesicki's Store and Tavern and Moonlight Gardens there for more than 50 years. He is credited with promoting the significance of the geographic 45-90 latitude and longitude point, the exact center of the Northwest Hemisphere. In 1969, Marathon County made the area a county park, the smallest in the state. Gesicki then started the 45x90 Club, which gathered thousands of visitors' signatures from around the world and put the community of Poniatowski on the official state map.