Built on Family Values

 

Tri Par was founded in 1930 by Herbert Gall, Clarence Gueller, and Jack Klein. The name Tri-Par was bestowed upon the business by a depot agent, as the men could not come to consensus and did not want any of their names on the bill of lading for a train car of gasoline. The German depot agent used the German word for Three, which is Drei , the English equivalent Tri, and Par as the shortened version of partner.

 

Mr. Gall, Mr. Gueller and Mr. Klein decided to go their separate ways after a year of working together. Herbert Gall continued to use the Tri-Par name as he went door to door selling fuel to farmers in Ozaukee and Washington counties. His business steadily grew and he opened an automobile repair shop in the 1945 in downtown Cedarburg. He installed a pump out in front of the shop to fuel automobiles. Herbert bought the northwest corner of the Washington Avenue and Western Avenue and built his first stand-alone gas station in the early in 1950’s. A second location was added in downtown Sheboygan a few years later.

 

The expansion continued. Tri-Par had eight delivery trucks on the road in the 1960’s.

Herbert had two – 200,000 gallon fuel tanks built to store fuel oil and gasoline. He bought motor oil direct from manufacturers in Pennsylvania. Retail locations were added in West Bend, Hartford, Manitowoc, Port Washington and Saukville.

 

Herbert sold his company to his sons in 1970’s and they started to add convenience stores and convert the retail locations to self-serve. They developed the reputation for having competitive prices and quality merchandise. They began selling gallon milk and had a stamp program that allowed customers to earn stamps for each purchase, with a full stamp book reedemable for a cash rebate.

 

Herbert’s son Robert bought Tri-Par from his brothers in 1986. Robert built the Newburg site in 1988, followed by Slinger and Hustisford. Each of these sites filled the need for a gasoline and convenience store in a small town located on a state highway. Most recently, the Random Lake store was constructed in 2004,  the store on Hwy P in West Bend was rebuilt shortly thereafter, and the most recent reconstruction was Saukville in 2012.