b. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1866
d. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1950

Louis Allis was an Industrialist, most famous for creating the Louis Allis Company in Milwaukee. He attended Markham Academy, Milwaukee, and received a degree in civil engineering from Pennsylvania Military College, Chester in 1888. A son of Edward Phelps Allis, he began his business career as a clerk in his father's firm. He left the Edward P. Allis Company in 1901, shortly before it became part of the newly formed Allis-Chalmers Company. He supervised the large timber and mining holdings of his father's estate for several years.

Louis Allis Company

In 1901, he invested in the new Mechanical Appliance Company, a small Milwaukee manufacturer of direct-current motors. In 1903, he became president of the firm. In 1922, the company was renamed the Louis Allis Company. Allis remained president until he retired in 1945. The Louis Allis Company was one of the first companies to develop individually motorized factory machines. By eliminating line shafts and drive belts, the company's machines contributed to safety and efficiency. The company expanded rapidly, and by 1945 its sales reached $20,000,000. Allis was active in civic affairs and served as honorary director of the Milwaukee Country Day School and contributed the oxygen rooms to the Columbia and Milwaukee Children's hospitals.

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Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin Biography. Who's Who in Amer., 25 (1948); Milwaukee Journal, May 8, 1950, July 1, 1951.