Gustavus Trost
1876 – 1950
Birthplace – Toledo, Ohio
Gustavus “Gus” Adolphus Trost was born in Toledo to German emigrated parents. He was the last of eight children with the last two being a set of identical twins. Gustavus attended Toledo Public School and graduated from high school in 1894. His first job in an architectural firm was in 1895 as a draftsman for the firm Bacon & Huber. This firm is credited for building the Pythian Castle (1890) and the Spitzer building (1896) in Toledo. He worked there until 1900, and then I left to work at the firm of Mauran, Russell and Crowell in St Louis.
In 1902, the Carnegie Foundation provided a grant totaling $37,500 to erect a new library in El Paso. The public library was to be built on an old cemetery site, Buckler Square. The St Louis architectural firm he was working for at time received the commission and Gustavus was asked to travel to El Paso as a representative to look over the site and plans. So in March of 1902, Gustavus boarded the train for El Paso. Once he arrived in El Paso, I went over the plans, confirmed the site and over saw the beginning of the construction of the library. The building was completed two years later.
El Paso in 1903 was slowly changing from a western town to city of the west. The Central Hotel, Angelus Hotel, and Hotel Orndoff were just some of the buildings that lining the city’s skyline. Gustavus decided to stay in El Paso and open an office in the Coles Block.
In 1904, Henry and Gustavus opened an office in the Guaranty Trust Building. They soon began to receive commissions to build residential homes, medical buildings, and commercial buildings. One of our first commission was from David Baldwin was for the Baldwin sanatorium on Grandview at a cost $150,000. It was completed in 1906 and demolished in 1972.
The firm decided to expand the business and place ads in some of the local newspapers in Arizona and New Mexico. In 1909, brother Adolphus moved here from Toledo and joined the firm as the structural engineer. The following year the firm received one of our biggest commissions the Anson Mills building. A twelve story reinforced concrete building. When the building was completed in 1912, they relocated the offices to the 8th floor. The next several years the firm expanded it practice into West Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Opening local offices in Phoenix, Bisbee and Tucson.
In 1923, Gustavus met Margaret Byrne secretary to Mr. Schwartz at the Popular Dry Good Store. They were later married and moved into a home on Baltimore Street. We had two children. Gustavus spent his leisure time playing golf and vacationing with family. Gustavus was a Master Mason in good standing within Lodge 130 and rose to 32 degree. In 1921, he was accepted into the American Institute of Architects.
Gustavus A, Trost passed away on August 25, 1950 and was buried at Evergreen Alameda Cemetery in El Paso with the rest of the family. Here are just some of the buildings I worked on directly; the La Tuna Federal Prison in Anthony, Texas, La Cruces Country Clubhouse in Las Cruces, New Mexico and the McKinley County Courthouse in Gallup, New Mexico and family home on Baltimore Street.