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the length of the full block, and immediately in 1898 began razing sections of old wooden buildings and replacing them with segments of the new brick one. That same year the railroad improved the spur track behind
Machinery Row. The first new section (601-607 Williamson) was complete in 1899 and Advance Thresher moved in. It was described as a "magnificent building... which is the finest and most complete of any implement branch house in the country,... sufficient to stock ten ordinary implement houses." Wooden buildings along the block were replaced by brick one by one until the last remaining wooden structure burned in 1912, and was replaced with brick, completing the unified design of the whole block.
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2,686,330 pounds westward. From its small beginnings, Madison was recognized for its central location and it developed into a major distributing center for agricultural implements. Railroad lines reaching in nine directions tied it to the prosperous communities and fertile farmlands of
Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The large manufacturers found it more profitable to have branch locations from which their stock could be supplied without delay, rather than shipping directly from the factory." Various branch offices of machinery manufacturers settled around the east Madison depots, and the area was called "Implement Row."
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In 1898 Frank and
Frederick Brown bought the Daggett and Gill property. Their father had made a fortune in banking and utilities and their business was listed in 1902 as paying the second highest taxes in the city. The Browns had architects Conover and Porter design a unified brick block for them,
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In 1982 Machinery Row was added to the NRHP for its key role in the commercial history of east
Madison and as an important remnant of the agricultural implement trade, as one of the city's few 19th remaining business blocks, as a surviving commercial work of one of Madison's leading architectural
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With rail connections, Madison became a hub for shipping farm equipment from manufacturers to the east to farms west, which were the frontier of
American agriculture at that time. It was reported in 1866 "that agricultural implement shipments from Madison had reached 70,760 pounds eastward and
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style, with the base clad in blocks of rusticated sandstone, which was felt to make a building feel grounded. The other hallmark of
Romanesque is the round tops above the windows on the second story. The walls are clad in white brick trimmed with "Abelman stone and tile," and rise to a brick
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From the start
Machinery Row housed other businesses along with the implement distributors: "fruits and produce, building materials, plumbing and heating, engines and machines, tools, ladies' underwear, printing, electrical supplies, chemicals, paint and candy facilities." The
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Before
Machinery Row was built, Daggett and Gill owned some wooden buildings on the site that housed tobacco warehouses, ice houses, and produce storage. They began to convert some of their buildings for implement distributors as that business grew. In 1889
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Madison's earliest development focused around the capitol square, but by the 1850s another business district was developing on the east side around
Williamson Street. The arrival of the
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in 1864 and the placement of its depot a block away at the intersection of Blair and E. Wilson increased the business activity, as did the arrival of the
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which the same architects designed four years earlier. Atop the far end of the block stands a smaller turret with a conical roof.
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rented space there before building its own structure just up
Williamson Street. The last implement business was
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firms, Conover and Porter, and as a long-time cornerstone of one of Madison's major intersections.
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National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Jenifer-Spaight Historic District
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Conover and Porter designed the long side of the building facing Williamson Street in
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Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin
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moved into one of Dagget and Gill's wooden buildings, and there were others.
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National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Machinery Row
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National Register of Historic Places in Madison, Wisconsin
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and his wife, Jean, the daughter of former Madison Mayor
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is a long brick commercial block a half mile east of the
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Robert J. Schockley; Katherine H. Rankin (1981-02-10),
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438:Buildings and structures in Madison, Wisconsin
252:In 1980, the building was purchased by former
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443:Romanesque Revival architecture in Wisconsin
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35:U.S. National Register of Historic Places
184:Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad
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168:National Register of Historic Places
180:Chicago & Northwestern Railroad
379:Timothy F. Heggland (2004-03-01),
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361:. Wisconsin Historical Society
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16:United States historic place
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118:Alan Conover and Lew Porter
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133:NRHP reference
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196:Advance Thresher Company
123:Architectural style
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256:player and head coach
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61:601-627 Williamson St.
387:National Park Service
340:. Landmark Hunter.com
314:National Park Service
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262:Henry Edward Reynolds
243:Madison Candy Company
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91:43.07601°N 89.37467°W
275:The west end in 2006
96:43.07601; -89.37467
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127:Romanesque Revival
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410:. Retrieved
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258:John Coatta
227:battlements
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70:Coordinates
427:Categories
412:2012-02-06
392:2022-09-08
365:2022-09-08
344:2012-02-06
319:2022-09-08
280:References
82:89°22′29″W
79:43°04′34″N
406:"History"
325:one photo
220:corbelled
186:in 1869.
115:Architect
110:1898-1912
209:May 2021
140:82000654
58:Location
235:Red Gym
223:cornice
174:History
160:capitol
323:With
107:Built
233:'s
162:in
135:No.
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385:,
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288:^
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231:UW
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