Property Record
1005 HIGH AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | E. B. HAYES MACHINERY CO. |
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| Other Name: | AXLE TECH |
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| Reference Number: | 68294 |
| Location (Address): | 1005 HIGH AVE |
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| County: | Winnebago |
| City: | Oshkosh |
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| Year Built: | 1912 |
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| Additions: | 1916 1919 1929 1953 |
| Survey Date: | 19802019 |
| Historic Use: | industrial bldg/manufacturing facility |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | Concrete Beam |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | Y |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | AN INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX CONSTRUCTED OF BRICK AND DISPLAYING THE PARAPET ROOF, BANDS OF WINDOWS AND BALANCE BETWEEN VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ELEMENTS- POPULAR IN THE 1910'S AND 1920'S IN OSHKOSH. SOME INDISTINGUISHABLE PORTIONS OF THE 1916 PLANT REMAIN INCORPORATED INTO RECENT CONSTRUCTION. ALL BUT TWO ADDITONS WERE BUILT BY BEN B. GANTHER CO. (B). THE STRUCTURE IS IN GOOD CONDITION. HISTORICAL STATEMENT: THIS PLANT WAS ORIGINALLY FOUNDED AS THE E. B. HAYES MACHINERY COMPANY IN 1898. IN 1919, COL. WILLARD ROCKWELL REORGANIZED THE FIRM AS THE WISCONSIN PARTS COMPANY WHICH, IN 1929, WAS ACQUIRED BY THE TIMEKEN-DETROIT AXLE DIVISION. IN 1933, ROCKWELL WAS NAMED PRESIDENT OF TIMKEN-DETROIT AND IN 1940, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD. THE FIRM LATER WAS RENAMED NORTH AMERICAN ROCKWELL AND THE ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL AFTER THE COLONEL AND HIS BROTHER WALTER WHO WAS MANAGER OF THE OSHKOSH PLANT FOR MANY YEARS. THE OSHKOSH PLANT IS SIGNIFICANT FOR ITS ASSOCIATION WITH THIS MAJOR AMERICAN INDUSTRIALIST OF THE 20TH CENTURY. E. B. HAYES CO. OWNED THE BUILDING SITE FROM 1898-1919, AND USED IT FOR INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES. (A). ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL HAS OWNED THE BUILDING FROM 1919 TO THE PRESENT DAY, AND USES THE SITE FOR INDUSTRY. (C) Fox River Valley Industrial Survey The E. B. Hayes Machinery Company was established in 1916 with the intention of shifting the focus of Oshkosh foundries from supplying the lumber industry to producing parts of for automobiles and trucks. The Hayes Company primarily made steel axels and drive-shafts and was located at 1100 High Avenue. In 1919, Colonel Willard Rockwell purchased a controlling interest in the company and reorganized it as the Wisconsin Parts Company, expanding the plant from the large brick three-story industrial loft at the site’s northwestern end. The company expanded its manufacturing plant again in 1929 with a brick production shed addition and a three-story office addition along High Avenue. The same year, the company acquired the Timken-Detroit Axle Company in Detroit, Michigan and was renamed the Rockwell Company, after Willard Rockwell who became the first president of the large regional firm. During World War II, the company expanded further, producing axels and transmissions for hundreds of thousands of trucks and tanks. The Oshkosh Rockwell factory expanded again in 1953 along High Avenue to the southeast. Eventually, the manufacturing plant became one of many Rockwell International plants around the country and the world producing parts for trucks, cars, printing presses, aircraft, power tools, and industrial automation. The plant was expanded to the rear during the 1970s and 1980s with steel frame additions and continues to operate as an axel manufacturer. The E. B. Hayes Machinery Company is significant under Criterion A: History in the area of Industry for its role in the Oshkosh metal products industry. The period of significance for the property would extend from 1916 to circa 1970. |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. KARSTAEDT, OSHKOSH, 100 YEARS A CITY P. 216. B. TELEPHONE INTERVIEW CHAS. CASE-PLANT MGR. 5/8/81. C. ROCKWELL BROCHURE IN THE HISTORY OF THE OSHKOSH PLANT. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |