Many folks have noticed the renovation of the building on North Madison Street.  When siding was torn away from the north side of the building, another piece of Evansville history was revealed.  The old sign, “Badger Coach Co.,” was once, the proud announcement that Evansville was the home of a trailer manufacturing company owned by Howard and Grace Bruce, and their son, Mark.

Howard and Grace Bruce were married in 1911 at the home of Grace’s father, George Hall, Jr.  George was the son of George “Popcorn” Hall and was nearly as famous as his father, in the circus business.

From the time she was a small child, Grace had performed in her father’s circus.  Howard had also been in the entertainment business.  His father owned theaters and a hotel in Stevens Point.  Howard had operated the H. A. Bruce Shows and had also worked as a drummer in the Gollmar Bros. Circus bands.

In the 1920s, Howard and Grace Bruce worked in circuses with her father, George, Jr. and with her brother, Frank Hall.  In 1924, Frank Hall and Howard Bruce traveled with ten trucks filled with equipment, animals and performers.  The show included trained sheep and goats, stunt men, and other circus acts.

Mark Bruce, Howard and Grace’s son, was born in 1913.  He was the fourth generation of the Hall family to work in the circus.  Mark traveled with his parents as a child and later learned many staging and show routines working in circuses during the family’s winter vacations in Florida.

Grace and Howard Bruce were in their late 40s when they gave up the Circus life and settled into the new business of making touring trailers.  The Badger Coach Company began operation in the late spring of 1935 after Howard and Grace Bruce purchased the North Madison Street land from John Feldt.   A small building was erected on the site and the Badger Trailer Company was founded.  The name was later changed to Badger Coach Co.

The first announcement of the company appeared in the Evansville Review on August 1, 1935.  Three models, the advance, the standard, and the junior model of the vacation trailer were pictured in the quarter page spread.  They were to be pulled behind an automobile and the article featured photos of the trailers.

The floor plan of the standard model resembled a boat.  A diagram of the trailer floor plan showed the location of the furniture and equipment.  The accompanying text described the trailer as providing, “ample room for four persons although it has been designed primarily for two passengers.  The equipment included a refrigerator, sink, stove, bed, tables and storage for luggage.  According to the article, the model offered “many conveniences to the vacationist who a few years back depended upon an open fire and tent for food and shelter.”

In the midst of the Great Depression, the Bruce family had entered a vacation market that was attracting people to the great outdoors.  These consumers wanted to enjoy nature without the inconvenience of putting up a tent and cooking meals over a campfire.  People who traveled in the trailers were sometimes known as “Tin Can Tourists.”

The desire for long-distance travel to vacation spots was spurred by more dependable automobiles, and better highways leading to the national parks in the west and to winter camping sites in the south.  Along the way, there were campgrounds, wayside cottages, and local parks, like Evansville’s Lake Leota, where camping was allowed.

The Bruce’s spent their winters in Florida and had already established a similar plant in Manatee, Florida.  According to the August 1, 1935 newspaper article, they used their advance model trailer as their winter home.  The family wanted to make their trailer manufacturing company a year-round business and still maintain their summer home in Evansville.

They started with orders for four trailers.  These were so well received that by the time they company opened again in the spring of 1936, they had orders waiting.  One man from Michigan, wanted to take his new mobile vacation home on a California trip.  Another trailer was being manufactured for a Portage traveler.

The Bruce’s had also introduced a new model that would sleep four people.  The company expected to build three of this model, and complete 18 trailers during their season in Evansville.  The trailers sold for $395 to $1000, depending on size and equipment.

In April 1936, the Evansville Review ran another article, “Young Trailer Industry Making Good in Small Town.”  Successful sales of the few trailers the Bruce’s were able to manufacture the previous summer, encouraged another Evansville entrepreneur to enter the business.

Evansville now had two trailer manufacturers, The Badger Trailer Co., also known as the Badger Coach Co. operated by the Bruce’s and The Globe Trailer Coach Co., operated by a Mr. Lutz.  The Globe Trailer had started operations in August 1935, just as the Bruce’s were preparing to leave for Florida.  Lutz reported that his trailer prices started at $350.

The Bruces were ambitious about advertising their products and took trailers to trade shows.  In the summer of 1938, the Wisconsin-Minnesota Automobile Tourist association sponsored a convention in Wisconsin Dells to promote tourism.  Howard, Grace, and Mark Bruce took one of their “attractive trailer coaches” to show.  The Evansville company was the only Wisconsin trailer manufacturer exhibiting at the show.

Before leaving for Florida in November 1938, the Bruce family held an open house to introduce the latest model trailer.  The front page article in the November 11, 1938 Evansville Review described the new trailer:  “Finished in Philippine mahogany with black walnut trim, the new model is equipped with attractive Venetian blinds and is arranged in two compartments, a living room with concealed kitchen equipment and a private state room with stationary bed.”

The state room was elegantly furnished for a tourist trailer, with a dresser, built-in mirror, two clothes presses, and a flush toilet.  A door separated the bedroom from the kitchen area.  Cooking equipment included a three-burner gas range, with oven, a “factory-built ice refrigerator,” and “ample cupboard space.”  The trailer also had a oil burner for heat

The exterior of the trailer was finished in a wine color, with black and aluminum trim.  The roof was made of aluminum and it had a double floor construction.  The trailer could be customized for those who did not like the standard model.

The Bruce’s planned to exhibit the new model at tourist conventions and trailer shows in Florida during the winter months.  They reported back to the Review from their home in Florida that they had exhibited their new trailer at the annual Sarasota trailer show.

The following year, Mark Bruce and another employee, Bob Hubbard took a trailer to Traverse City and Orchard Beach State park near Manistee, Michigan.  They exhibited the trailer at the Tin Can Tourist Association of The World and Automobile Tourists’ Association shows.  These organizations were headquartered in Florida and also sponsored the shows in Florida where the Bruce’s exhibited.

The business was so successful that the company needed larger facilities in Evansville.  In the spring of 1940, Paul Dehnert, a local contractor, was hired to build an 18 x 64 foot addition to the small building the Bruce’s had been working in on North Madison Street.

The frame structure had a concrete floor and was sided with fake-brick to match the smaller building.   Crews of carpenters, masons and electricians worked at the remodeling project so that it could open in mid-May.  The Bruce family also had an apartment built in the second story of the shop.

The Bruce family planned to build even larger models of their trailers and local residents were invited to an open house so that they could view the new models.  Their first new order for 1940 had been from George Roberson, the owner and manager of the Roberson Players, a traveling show troupe.  Roberson had purchased a 24-foot tandem-wheeled model that was customized for his needs.  The Bruce’s told the Review reporter that Roberson had chosen their model after “carefully inspecting models displayed by some 20 other manufacturers at the annual winter trailer show in Florida.”

In later years, the Bruces added custom boat building and trailer repair work to their business.

Howard, Grace, and Mark Bruce built trailers in their shop on North Madison Street for 28 years.  In 1963, the building was sold to Roland and Shirley Devlin.  Devlin told the Review that he expected to continue his business of renting and selling tent type trailers and also to move his real estate business into the North Madison Street building.

A few months after the sale of the business, Grace Bruce passed away.  Howard and Mark Bruce continued to live in Evansville and often wintered in Florida.  Howard died in 1969.

Mark became active in state and local theater productions and served on the board of governors in Evansville’s Little Theater and the Wisconsin Theater Association.  In 1977, he was recognized for “outstanding contributions to theater in Wisconsin.”  Mark died in January 1985.

Today, the building that once housed the Badger Coach Company is being restored and revitalized.  Only the sign “Badger Coach Co.” remains of the once flourishing Evansville business.