St. Vinny’s Williamson Street thrift store has been recognized for architectural and design achievement and is honored to receive a 2025 Historic Preservation Award. Our thrift store and adjoining Social Service Suite on Madison’s east side was chosen as this year’s Sensitive Infill Award from Madison Trust for Historic Preservation.

This space is extra special because our charitable service in Dane County began in the Williamson-Marquette neighborhood where the store stands today.

Building History

In 1925 parishioners at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church and Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Madison formed our first St. Vincent de Paul conferences. These members visited struggling neighbors in their homes and offered assistance like food, clothing, and other basic essentials. By 1941 the supply closets they kept at the churches for these essentials were becoming too full. With a $1,000 loan from St. Vincent de Paul friends in Milwaukee, members purchased the building at 409 S. Baldwin Street in Madison to form a “Salvage Bureau” to give away clothing and household goods to families in need.

This “Salvage Bureau” later turned into a thrift store when the amount of donated goods exceeded the amount they could give away. The store grew in 1954 with the addition of the J.A. Brady Garage next door, and again in the late 1970’s and 1980’s with the addition of former retail and restaurant space. The house formerly on the corner of Baldwin and Williamson street served as our food pantry during the 1990’s until 2008. It then provided housing for women leaving incarceration and office space for our housing program. 

Today, the first floor of this beautiful remodeled and expanded space is all retail, supporting our mission and anchoring our thrift store operations. The second floor is program space for our social services programs. It’s home to the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Program which provides housing stabilization support for newly-housed families. It’s also home to our microlending program which helps people escape predatory debts including payday and auto title loans. This building stays true to the character of the Williamson-Marquette Neighborhood history and stays true to our history of service in Dane County.

————————————————————————-

View all 2025 Historic Preservation Award winners

Learn More

————————————————————————-

Special Thanks To…

• Dave Mollenhoff for your invitation and work to complete the application for this award.
• Dimension 4 Madison Design Group, Ron Siggelkow, our architect, and Tina Gordon, our designer, and their teams who had the vision to create a building that meets current program needs and beautifully reflects the history and character of the Williamson-Marquette neighborhood.
• Gary Tree of Advanced Building Corporation and Gary’s team, who turned Ron and Tina’s vision into reality. They faced the challenge of combining six former buildings into a single place. Added thanks to Mike Leiferman and Tony Arts who brought necessary and exceptional engineering skills.
• Williamson-Marquette neighborhood who generously and patiently supported us through this project.