William Bernard, son of a German immigrant, owned and operated a famous boat works on East Gorham Street in Madison. Now the site of James Madison Park, Bernard's boat house maintained a fleet of ice boats available for rental. William Bernard invented the Madison style of ice boat and built many famous ice boats including Emil Fauerbach's Princess II, winner of the Hearst International Trophy. William's son, Carl, continued building and racing ice boats until his retirement in the early 1960s.