THE HISTORY OF ESSER PLACE

The land where Esser Place now sits was purchased around 1890 by Peter Esser. He and his wife Elizabeth lived on the homestead and farmed the land with their children until 1971, when Peter and Elizabeth moved into town. Three of their children remained with their families on the land to farm until it was sold in the 1980's.

CUNA Mutual Investment Corporation purchased the land around 1986 and completed the first phase of the building - 45,000 square feet 1989. In 1994-1995, 20,000 square feet were added to the production building. The 4-story office building with 85,000 square feet was also added at this time. The property continued to be used as a credit card processing facility until 2005 when Fidelity, the then owner, closed Madison operations.

The Esser Place Partners purchased the building in 2007, renaming it Esser Place, after the Esser family that originally homesteaded there. $3 million has gone into renovations to revitalize the building into Class A office space and reconnect it with the community.