America's Last Saddle
Tree Factory

America's last 19th century saddle tree factory stands suspended in time in Madison, Indiana. Here, for 94 years, workers at the Ben Schroeder Saddle Tree Company crafted tens of thousands of "wooden skeletons" for saddle makers in the United States, South America and Cuba.

As cars, trucks, and tractors started putting horses out to pasture, the Schroeder family began making stirrups, hames, pack saddle frames, and cart-trees, natural extensions of the saddle tree trade. Non-related items produced, such as clothespins, porch swings, and work gloves, illustrate the adaptability of the company.

The factory, closed in 1972, remains intact with sawdust piled under rare and unique vintage woodworking machinery. When restored, the Schroeder complex will re-open as a museum, the only one in the nation preserving the craft of the saddle tree maker.

This exhibit showcases a small sampling of the thousands of items discovered in the Schroeder factory, now owned by Historic Madison Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit historic preservation organization, in Madison, Indiana.