Field Notes
SE Wisconsin is not a former manufacturing region. It is a current one. The big plants closed but the knowledge, craft, and demand did not go anywhere. These articles cover the companies, workers, and decisions that made this corner of the Midwest one of the most productive manufacturing corridors in American history.
The Interchangeable Socket: How Kenosha Gave the World Snap-on Tools
In 1920, a Blackhawk Manufacturing manager quit his job and built a competitor. What he knew about heavy-wall machined steel, and what his two new partners knew about selling, turned one arithmetic insight into a $4.7 billion company still headquartered in Kenosha today.
Read MoreMilwaukee's Steel Soul: Harley-Davidson and the City That Made It
Harley-Davidson did not just build motorcycles in Milwaukee. For a century, the factory shaped what Milwaukee workers knew how to do, which shaped what Milwaukee manufacturers were able to become.
Coming SoonAllis-Chalmers: When West Allis Built the World's Turbines
At its peak, the Allis-Chalmers plant in West Allis employed 30,000 people and made turbines, tractors, and components for the Manhattan Project. When it closed in 1987, it took a lot with it. Not everything.
Coming SoonEaton's Kenosha Plant and SE Wisconsin's Precision Manufacturing Roots
The Eaton plant in Kenosha anchored local precision manufacturing through the 1960s and 70s. What it built, and what it left behind when it left, tells you a lot about how this region works.
Coming SoonThe Kenosha Chrysler Plant: Operating History, Closure, and What Comes Next
The Kenosha Chrysler plant opened, expanded, contracted, and closed across six decades. The full arc of that story is about more than one factory. It is about an industrial city trying to figure out what it is now.
Coming SoonMilwaukee Tool's Origin Story: How One Brand Defined a Manufacturing City
Milwaukee Tool has been making tools in Milwaukee for over a century. How it grew, how it nearly disappeared, and how it became one of the dominant brands in the trades is a story about this city's industrial identity.
Coming SoonJ.I. Case in Racine: 180 Years and Still Running
Jerome Increase Case started building threshing machines in Racine in 1842. What became Case IH is still manufacturing there. Almost no American industrial company has a longer continuous run in the same city.
Coming SoonFrom Nash to AMC to Chrysler: Kenosha's Full Automotive Arc
Kenosha built cars under three different nameplates for the better part of a century. The story of how Nash became AMC became Chrysler and then nothing is the story of American automotive manufacturing in miniature.
Coming SoonA.O. Smith Built the Frame for Every Ford Model T. Then Pivoted Completely.
At one point, A.O. Smith's Milwaukee plant was producing 10,000 car frames a day. When that market dried up, the company switched to water heaters and never looked back. That kind of adaptation is not luck.
Coming SoonInSinkErator Was Invented in Racine in 1927. Most People Do Not Know That.
An architect named John W. Hammes built the first garbage disposal in his Racine home workshop in 1927. The company he founded is still manufacturing there. Short piece. Worth knowing.
Coming SoonModine Manufacturing: Over a Century of Thermal Work in Racine
Modine has been making heat exchangers and thermal management components in Racine since 1916. It is not a legacy company running on fumes. It is an active manufacturer with a global footprint, still headquartered here.
Coming SoonThe Craft Is Still Here. So Are We.
Custom fabrication, machining, and CAD design out of Sturtevant, WI. Evenings and weekends, because great work does not always happen 9 to 5.
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