Sheboygan department store H.C. Prange Co. installed the first escalator in Wisconsin in summer 1936
SHEBOYGAN – The city had a Wisconsin first in the summer of 1936 when the H.C. Prange Co. installed the state's first escalator in the successful department store.
It was a spectacular device. Bright metal work on the top sides with a black handrail you held onto when you went up to the second floor. You'd step on a metal step, grab on and the moving stairs would take you up to another floor of shopping bliss.
The following year, when the company celebrated its 50th anniversary, a special Sheboygan Press advertisement touted the innovation as the only "moving stairway" in the state.
Later, in 1947, the company updated that first escalator and installed additional units to be able to take you up to the third floor and touted that with a full-page advertisement in the Press.
According to Wikipedia, the escalator was patented in 1859 by Nathan Ames, a patent attorney from Saugus, Massachusetts. It was a patent in idea only, as there was never a working model built.
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Later in 1889, Leamon Souder patented the "stairway," a device that featured a series of steps and links jointed to each other. Again, no working model was ever built.
A few years later in 1892, Jesse W. Reno patented the "Endless Conveyor of Elevator." A few months after Reno's patent was approved, George A. Wheeler patented his ideas for a more recognizable moving staircase.
Reno, a graduate of Lehigh University, produced the first working escalator, which was named the "inclined elevator." That particular escalator was built next to the Old Iron Pier at Coney Island in New York City in 1896.
Reno eventually united with Otis Elevator Company and retired once he sold his patents.
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The next step in the evolution of the device was when Charles Seeberger designed an escalator that is more like the units we see today. Seeberger also joined forces with the Otis Elevator Company and, in 1899, the first commercial unit, which was heralded at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle.
The device eventually caught the eye of the H.C. Prange Company and was installed to great customer acceptance in 1936.
Well, not all customers, apparently.
In 1959, Mrs. Wilma Turk, 28, of 1213 S. 10th St., was the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the H.C. Prange Co. in which she was seeking $12,500 for alleged injuries. Her husband, John, sued the company for $3,500 for his wife's medial and hospital expenses and loss of her companionship.
A Circuit Court jury deliberated less than two hours before returning to the courtroom with a verdict for the Prange Co. A cross-complaint of the H.C. Prange Co. against the Otis Elevator Co. was dismissed by Judge F.H. Schlichting at the close of testimony on the motion of Otis' attorney for non-suit.
When the Prange building went down from a water main break in the 1980s, so did that special ride that could take you up to an item of your desires.
Gary C. Klein can be reached at 920-453-5149 or gklein@gannett.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @leicaman99.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan store H.C. Prange had Wisconsin's first escalator
