HUTCHINSON — On 4th Street Road, there is a memorial honoring the glory of a summer's harvest and a moment in history.
It's where a U.S. president stopped to drive a tractor and talk with a farmer working in his field.
The roadside memorial west of Hutchinson commemorates Warren Harding, who was at the peak of his popularity when he visited on June 23, 1923. A second Harding memorial is in George Pyle Park, next to the Reno County Museum.
Not bad for a president whose reputation was later rocked by the Teapot Dome scandal and an extramarital affair.
"As far as I'm aware, he was very popular in his time," said Riah Morgan, chief curator for the Reno County Historical Society. "His journey across the United States to reach Alaska was intended to bring Alaska into statehood …
"He was one of the first presidents that really went there and visited."
While in Hutchinson, Harding played golf with Arthur Capper, a Kansas senator, and a former governor. Harding also spoke with crowds gathered at the Kansas State Fairgrounds and helped dedicate the Carey salt mines.
"He stopped here in Hutchinson, and he also stopped in Dodge City," Morgan said. "It was part of like a press tour. He did a lot of speeches … he gave a speech to about 8,000 school children.
"After he had lunch ... he went out to see how wheat was harvested. And his entire visit was mostly focused on agriculture. His wife encouraged him to get on the tractor and … drive around with the wheat binder following him."
Forty days after Harding visited Hutchinson, he died from a heart attack.
The Memorial on 4th Street was built using money raised by Reno County school children.
Harding's visit wasn't the first time a U.S. president came to Kansas, or the last.
President Ulysses Grant visited our state at least three times.
On a railroad tour of the country, Teddy Roosevelt's train rolled into Sharon Springs in western Kansas. He was presented with a baby badger, which he named Josiah and took home to the White House.
On Sept. 26, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson was scheduled to speak in Wichita, but he suffered a stroke on the train ride from Colorado.
In more recent years, Barack Obama spoke in El Dorado in 2006 – where his grandparents had lived -- and in Osawatomie in 2011.
Each time a president spoke, the people of Kansas turned out.
"It was pretty monumental just to have a president come and visit here in Hutchinson, when we consider it such a small town in comparison to Kansas City and … Wichita," Morgan said. "It was special to have a president come here and take the time to meet with people and see how farmers worked in the field."
Harding's death several weeks later touched the city's residents.
"It was heartbreaking when he passed away," Morgan said. "So, after he visited, (Reno County) school children gathered up all the pennies they could and saved up as much as they could because they wanted to commemorate the moment where they got to meet President Harding."
And so, on a cold winter's morning, it is fitting a tractor is parked next to the memorial on a windswept hill.
Few cars and trucks pass by. Even the birds are silent.
The memories of a summer harvest and a president are nestled in the winter's white snow.