Max Toltz was born in Koeslin, Germany in 1857 and studied at the Royal Academy of Science and Engineering in Berlin, from which he received a degree in civil engineering in 1877. Toltz served in the German Army and then worked as a civil engineer in Germany, Switzerland and Canada. He arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1882 and began working as a draftsman for the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad (which later became the Great Northern Railway.) He advanced to chief engineer but returned to Montreal in 1904. In 1905 he was asked to return to the Great Northern and was given the task of electrfying the Cascade Tunnel on the railroad's mainline in the Northern Rockies. In 1908, Toltz formed his own company, Toltz Engineering Company, in which he remained active until his death in St. Paul in 1932.
Wesley King was born in Monticello, Minnesota in1879, was graduated from Anoka (MN) High School in 1897 and received his degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1905. He worked in the Bridge Department of the Great Northern Railway from 1908 to 1910, when he joined Max Toltz in partnership. King remained with the company until his death in 1959.
Beaver Day was born in Lisbon, North Dakota in 1884. He received his degree in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in 1908 and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota where he worked with Allen Stem (architect) from 1908 to 1918. He joined Max Toltz and Wesley King in partnership, forming Toltz, King and Day in 1919. He served on the State Board of Registration from 1929 until 1931. Day died in St. Paul in 1931.
The firm began as Toltz Engineering Company in 1908, continued as Toltz, King and Day and became Toltz, King, Duvall and Anderson in 1956. It is now known as TKDA (2004.)
From the guide to the Toltz, King, and Day Papers, 1910-1995, (University of Minnesota Libraries. Northwest Architectural Archives, Manuscripts Division [naa])
