For more than a century the Trane name has identified products and technology that stretched the world’s idea of what was possible – a tradition that’s still very much with us.

Founded in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1885, and finally incorporated in 1913, Trane has over 120 years of experience in the business.

In many ways, the Trane story is a classic American success story that grew into a global one. It began with our founder, James Trane, a Norwegian immigrant who opened his own plumbing shop in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1885. With the inspiration of cold Wisconsin winters, James Trane invented a new low-pressure heating system he proudly called the Trane Vapor Heating System. His son, Reuben, was just back from college with a degree in mechanical engineering, so father and son began manufacturing operations in 1910 and incorporated as The Trane Company in 1913. It was Reuben’s invention of the convector radiator in 1923 that firmly established the company’s reputation as an innovator, a reputation Trane people have been building on ever since.