741 Main Street in LaPointe is a Part of Madeline Island History

741 Main Street in LaPointe is a Part of Madeline Island History

Madeline Island Realty's most recent residential listing at 741 Main Street, La Pointe, Wisconsin, has quite a historic past. 

The first titled owner of the property at 741 Main Street was J. Austrian, who acquired the property in 1854.

The site of the Foster residence was formerly owned by Frank J. Albright in the early to mid-1900s and was the site of the Albright Boat Works.  Albright built a thriving business there, a combination hardware store, machine shop and plumbing supply depot which doubled as a fishing station.  According to the book On the Rock: The History of Madeline Island Told Through its Families, Albright also supplied water to nearby cottages along the Main Street shoreline.

In the late 1950s, the property was sold to Dan Brummer, who apparently continued the commercial operation, adding a fuel dock for boaters.  And in 1974, a sail repair business was added to the operation when title was transferred to Ron Erickson.

In 1984, the property was acquired by Thomas and Yvonne Foster.  They dismantled the Superior Pacific building on the site and hired noted St Paul, Minnesota architect Daniel Gleeson (who had earlier worked on the planning and construction of the Madeline Island Clubhouse and Golf Links cottages) to design their future shoreline home. 

The Foster family residence was constructed by Gene Nelson and was completed in 1987. 

Painting of the Albright Boat Works on Madeline Island, by Anna Hess. Photo courtesy of Yvonne Foster.