Racine shoppers looking for something a little more curated than a mall rack have a spot to be tonight: the Racine Business Center at 1405 16th Street is hosting the Von Schrader Vintage Trunk Show, an evening built around fashion, art, music and wine inside a building with roots that stretch back to the years right after the Civil War.
The event runs from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, according to Eventbrite. As FOX6 News Milwaukee reports, organizer Lauren Sturycz and vendor Donna Willerth have been sharing details about the show, which is billed as a way to support small businesses while giving attendees an evening built around fashion, art, music and wine.
Sturycz organizes the trunk show through her venture Xo Lo Designs, and she isn't new to the fashion spotlight. Willerth owns Madam D's Vintage Clothing & Jewelry, which keeps a permanent retail suite — Suite 2390 — inside the Racine Business Center, offering curated cases of vintage jewelry along with clothing and accessories, according to Out & About Wisconsin.
A Carriage Factory's Long Second Life
The venue itself carries as much history as anything on the racks. The building at 1405 16th Street was originally constructed after the Civil War for the Racine Carriage Company, and it went on to serve as one of the country's early business incubators during the World War I era, according to a history compiled by ArtRoot. Over the decades it housed industrial manufacturers including Modine Manufacturing and the Von Schrader Manufacturing Company — the namesake behind tonight's event title.
That Von Schrader name traces to Francis “Fran” Von Schrader, who founded his company in Racine in 1935, during the Great Depression, and pioneered specialized carpet cleaning machinery along with on-location commercial cleaning business models, according to a history posted on the site History of Professional Carpet Cleaning. By 1955, the sprawling 16th Street complex housed 46 distinct operating companies under the ownership of Von Schrader and H.D. Rench, per ArtRoot, before it eventually transitioned into its modern identity as an art studio and small business hub.
Inside 16th Street Studios Today
That modern identity is 16th Street Studios, a creative enclave inside the Racine Business Center that features working studio spaces for more than 60 regional artists working in painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and other disciplines, Out & About Wisconsin notes. The complex also houses the Spirit of Racine museum in Suite 2500, which displays historical artifacts reflecting the city's 19th- and 20th-century manufacturing past, according to the same outlet — meaning tonight's trunk show unfolds just steps from a permanent record of the very industrial history that shaped the building.
Willerth's vintage business has recently shown up beyond the walls of the Racine Business Center, too. In an installation completed in early April, Madam D's Vintage took part in the Downtown Racine Corporation's Makers' Gallery placemaking initiative, displaying vintage bridal wear designed by local artist Samira Gdisis in an empty downtown storefront window at 427 Main Street, according to Civic Media.
Part of a Broader Push for Local Makers
That Makers' Gallery project, organized alongside Wisconsin Main Street and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, activated 10 underutilized storefront windows around downtown Racine into temporary art galleries meant to boost local business traffic, Civic Media reports. Tonight's trunk show fits that same pattern: independent vendors and organizers using Racine's older commercial buildings, from vacant storefronts to a 19th-century carriage factory, as stages for small businesses trying to reach new customers.
Attendees can pick up tickets for the Von Schrader Vintage Trunk Show through Eventbrite ahead of the 6 p.m. start.
