Randy Alexander has purchased Northgate Shopping Center located on North Sherman Avenue on Madison’s Northeast side.In 1831, Johann Baptist Roth, wife Maria, and son Matthias immigrated to the United States from Breisach, Germany. They settled on a farm in Roxbury, Wisconsin. Johann was a potter by trade.
Son Matthias married and moved to a farm on Sherman Avenue, across from what is now Sherman School. Matthias’ oldest son, John Stephan, worked very hard for his father while receiving no payment. A neighbor, H. Johnson, gave John a large tract of land at no cost. He sold the land to the Chicago Northwestern Railroad and also land west of that to the Lakewood Company in 1911. John’s land bordered Steensland Drive, Aberg Avenue to the now Oscar Mayer plant and both sides of Roth Street to the railroad tracks.
John had a dairy farm. His two sons, Carl and Paul, walked from the farm home off Steensland to Holy Redeemer School on State Street. Carl and Paul each had milk routes, driven by horse and wagon, into the central city of Madison. He also had a gravel pit on the site of where Northgate now stands.
In 1920, Carl and Paul started a coal and oil delivery business, a cement block plant, and a ready mix concrete plant with a fleet of trucks. Their office was on Roth Street. Later, they formed the C.E. and P.A. Roth Company. Carl’s son, William, and Paul’s sons, Phil and Tom, joined their fathers to run the company.
In 1960, the Roth’s built Northgate on Sherman Avenue. Some of the original stores were: a 24-lane bowling center, Poole’s Supper Club, Woolworth Dime Store, Druck’s Apparel (later Borman’s), Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, National Tea Grocery Store, Gerhardt Pharmacy, Borcher’s Liquor Store, Harold’s Shoe Store, Main Appliance and Northwest Fabrics Store.
Northgate has always been managed by the Roth family: Bill, Tom, Phil, all deceased, and John. The present board is Blanche Roth, widow of Bill, and current manager, John Roth, Bob Joha, husband of Mary Frances Roth Joha, Patty Roth Carroll, representing Phil’s family, and Joan Roth, widow of Tom.
