When George and Arthur Trachte began their tinsmith and furnace repair shop at 235 King St. in 1901, they probably never imagined that their company would build more buildings in Madison than any other builder in town, Carol Ahlgren and Frank Edgerton Martin write in their cover story about Trachte's prefabricated-metal buildings. The Trachte brothers built their company in Trachte-like fashion - without great resources or the help of architects. Their tinsmith business soon outgrew its original King Street location and moved to Bedford Street, then, in 1919, to the old Dickinson Street foundry, where the Trachte Company was a mainstay until relocating to Sun Prairie last February. The ease of assembly and dis-assembly, their variety of sizes and modular adaptability rendered Trachte buildings suitable for use as garages, warehouses, gas stations, Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises, the airplane hangar where Charles Lindbergh stored the Spirit of St. Louis while visiting Madison and, at 1441 Regent St., Dotty Dumpling's Dowry. Still headquartered in Sun Prairie, Trachte Building Systems is now a leader in the self-storage industry.
We love Trachte buildings!
From the Isthmus archives, Dec. 5, 1986