Automobile Culture
Although Detroit is known today as the home of the automobile industry in the United States, Wisconsin - - and the Milwaukee area in particular - - made many contributions to the industry in its earliest years. Since 1900, more than eighty different makes of cars and trucks have been manufactured in Wisconsin. In 1873, the first steam-powered, self-propelled vehicle in the United States was designed and operated by Reverend Dr. J.W. Carhart of Racine. Two years later, the Wisconsin Legislature offered a $10,000 prize to the winner of a race between Green Bay and Madison in an effort to... more...
Original Documents and Other Primary Sources
| La Crosse's first motor-bike, 1900 |
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| An 1897 bamboo bicycle |
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| The great Green Bay to Madison automobile race of 1878. |
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| The automobile population of Madison in 1903 |
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| The early days of driving in Wisconsin |
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| A Racine pastor invents a horseless carriage in 1873. |
| An original "Big Boy" plastic sculpture from a Marc's restaurant, ca. 1971 |
| The Pneumatic, a progressive monthly paper for cyclists |
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| The newest automobile from Kenosha's Thomas B. Jeffery Company |
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| The making of a Mitchell Car, 1911 |
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| A 1910 automobile travel guide to Wisconsin |
| The evolution of gas stations in Wisconsin |
| Images of the Winther Motor Truck Company |
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| Photographs of automobile manufacturing in Wisconsin, 1905-1968. |
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| Harley-Davidson's first factory |
| The Kissel Motor Car Industrial District |
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| Walworth Avenue, Delavan's brick road |
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| A 1920s thematic gas station |
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| The nation's first unified electric power utility in Milwaukee |
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| Oatman Filling Station |
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| Car ownership helps to create a Madison suburb |
Primary Sources Available Elsewhere
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| A cross-country drive in 1914 |
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| A radiator emblem from Hartford's Kissel Kar Company |
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| Wisconsin Blue Books |
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| Out for a drive in 1903 |
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| Historic postcards of Milwaukee |
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| Automobiles transform the Wisconsin Dells |
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| An ad for the newest Rambler model rolling out of Kenosha, ca. 1914 |
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| A 1915 ad for a motor scooter |
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| Blue Mound Road, Wisconsin's first divided highway |
Related Links
 Discover classroom resources available from our Office of School Services
Search our catalogs for materials on this topic that aren't yet available online.
Borrow books about this topic through our interlibrary loan service
Borrow manuscripts about this topic through our Area Research Center network.
Learn about other topics from our new book, Wisconsin History Highlights
Explore early automobiles at historic sites, museums, and race tracks
Visit the Harley-David Museum Information Center
Read more about the history of bicycling in Wisconsin from the DOT
Learn more about the history of rest areas along Wisconsin roadways
Take a driving tour of the Dells/Baraboo region
Read about the history of transportation in the La Crosse River Valley
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