Building a Milwaukee Icon: Harley-Davidson's Juneau Avenue Factory

 

Between 1910 and 1920, the Harley-Davidson Motor Company went from a Milwaukee startup to a global success story. When the dust settled at the end of that formative decade, Harley-Davidson stood tall as the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world.

A recently discovered cache of architectural drawings includes sketches of the original Juneau Avenue facility. The drawings, along with archival photographs, demonstrate the whirlwind pace of the company’s early growth. While building an international business—going from producing just over 1,000 motorcycles in 1909 to manufacturing 27,000 motorcycles in 1920—the company’s Milwaukee factory experienced near-constant expansion. Construction through this relatively brief period created the buildings that today, a century later, are still the proud home of Harley-Davidson.

While motorcycle production ceased at the site in 1973, today the Juneau Avenue facility serves as the company’s corporate headquarters and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The facility is a highly visible, active tie to Milwaukee’s proud industrial heritage. The Juneau Avenue structure is a lasting testament to the vision and hard work of the company’s founders and its dedicated employees.