The Johnson House was built in 1852 for Henry J. Traver, owner of the Traver and Company carriage factory across the street. From 1877 until 1994, the house served as the residence and office of four doctors who practiced there: Dr. Daniel Cranz, Dr. Thomas Ritter, Dr. Robert Johnson, who bought the house in 1900, and his daughter Dr. Myra Johnson, who took over the practice after his death and continued until retiring in 1976. After her death, the house became a museum operated by the Wadsworth Historical Society and owned by the City of Wadsworth. Across the street, a carriage manufacturing business believed to have been established around 1838 passed through several owners and names, including Traver and Company, Stevenson, Browning and Steele, Browning and Steele, and R. Stevenson and Company. Its office was the site of Wadsworth’s first election on April 4, 1866, and Aaron Pardee was elected the first mayor in 1875. The carriage maker employed about 20 people, occupied about 7,000 square feet in the 1890s, and closed in 1915 as automobiles replaced horse-drawn vehicles.