Property Record
153 N MILWAUKEE ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Herman Barkow Co. |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 110926 |
| Location (Address): | 153 N MILWAUKEE ST |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
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| Year Built: | 1928 |
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| Additions: | 1937 1947 1967 1987 |
| Survey Date: | 1984 |
| Historic Use: | industrial building |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | Ralph Kloppenberg - 1937 |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Historic Third Ward District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 3/8/1984 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. The M in the photo code is short for MVIS negatives. Other map codes include MVIS 3/2A, 17/22 USGS-Milwaukee. This two-story red brick factory has iron columns and beams, one-foof thick brick walls and a pedimented central pavilion. Ralph Kloppenburg was the designer of the 1937 section of the building. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE: Herman "Long John" Barkow was trained at the Krupp Works in Germany, and established a wagon shop here in 1879. He replaced it within two months after the 1892 fire destroyed it, making heavy and light wagons and trucks, steel wheelbarrows and coal carts. In 1910, the Barkow Co. was the first to enter the motorized truck line in Milwaukee, and by 1923 had ceased all wagon work to concentrate on auto body building. Alvin Barkow, still active in the business, designed all the firm's new streamlined truck bodies. This factory is the third to be built on the original site. Auto painting was done on the first floor and woodworking was done on the second. In 1937 a trailer shop, a body shop and an office building were built on the southwest corner of the site, followed by a second story addition ten years later. Another garage and a new office building were constructed in the late 1960s. Barkow Co. recently opened a new plant in a northwest suburb, but intends to continue doing custom sheet metal work and truck equipment fabrication at the N. Milwaukee St. facility. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Building permits. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |