Property Record
11700 W CAPITOL DR
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | A.O. SMITH PROPELLER FACTORY |
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| Other Name: | HARLEY DAVIDSON |
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| Reference Number: | 233306 |
| Location (Address): | 11700 W CAPITOL DR |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Wauwatosa |
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| Year Built: | 1942 |
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| Additions: | 1947 1958 1973 1983 |
| Survey Date: | 2016 |
| Historic Use: | industrial building |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | A.O. Smith Company was incorporated in 1904 as a producer of automobile frames and proceeded to become the largest producer of automobile and airplane frames and water heaters in the United States during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. They also produced small motors and metal farm silos. During World War II, the company played a large part in wartime manufacturing including establishing a large propeller manufacturing plant in what would become Wauwatosa in 1942. After the end of the war the plant was no longer needed and was sold to Harley-Davidson Motor Company in 1947 as the main machine shop site for the Milwaukee based motorcycle manufacturer. Harley Davidson expanded and renovated the plant numerous times in 1958, 1973, 1984, and 1997. In 2012, much of the former manufacturing plant was sold to U-Haul Self-Storage. |
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| Bibliographic References: | ‘History,’ A.O. Smith website. <www.aosmith.com/About/History/> accessed January 27, 2017. “Urban spelunking: Uncovering a WWII "Easter egg," On Milwaukee website. <onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/lost-ww2-propeller-uncovered.html> accessed January 18, 2017. Mead & Hunt. Milwaukee Industrial Properties Intensive Survey. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society, 2016. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |