Trachte buildings in Madison, WI

[Guest post by morangm]

The Trachte company pioneered the manufacture of metal buildings, starting around 1917.  The company initially started out manufacturing metal tanks and tubs for agricultural use and invented a machine for efficiently creating corrugated steel panels for this purpose.  After using this material to build a garage for the owner's car and wowing the neighbors, the company shifted to primarily building flexible, modular metal buildings, which were often used for garages and industrial purposes.  A very nice history of the company and some examples of their work can be found here on the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation's website.  The company is actually still around and these days focuses mostly on self-storage buildings.

The old Trachte buildings have a distinct look: Long and skinny with straight corrugated metal walls and a circularly arched roof.  A lot of these buildings are still around in Madison, particularly on the formerly industrial east side.  Some of them appear to be abandoned, but others are being used in a variety of interesting ways.  Please enjoy a few examples!

Unknown industrial structure, E. Johnson St.

Unclear what this little red Trachte building is used for, if anything.

This Trachte building hosts an artist residency program in Thurber Park.

This one's been done up super nicely as someone's house.

This one is somebody's furniture workshop and has a matching Little Free Library out front.

Here's a very typical Madison East Side scene: Trachte building, 100-year-old houses, and a large new apartment building, all superimposed.

The old Trachte building factory was also located on the east side of Madison.  The factory itself is built of Trachte buildings.  It's still there but appears to be sitting mostly abandoned or partly used for storage.

Old Trachte building factory off Dickinson St.

Some impressive trees have grown up between these factory buildings.

Because Kodachromeguy always does this: All photos were taken with a Samsung Galaxy S10e mobile phone.