Property Record
6401 W BECHER PL
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Universal Power Shovel Corporation |
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| Other Name: | Unit Drop Forge Co., Inc. |
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| Reference Number: | 145683 |
| Location (Address): | 6401 W BECHER PL |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | West Allis |
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| Year Built: | 1941 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2007 |
| Historic Use: | industrial building |
| Architectural Style: | Contemporary |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Glass |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | See AHI's 145681-84 Klug & Smith cited as the contractor. The original address of this building was 6401 W. Becher Place, when it was first under the Universal Power Shovel Corporation. Situated at the southwest corner of S. 62nd and W. Burnham streets, this five-building industrial complex includes a brick forge shop (1916, circa 1920; AHI#145681) with a saw-tooth window roof along S. 62nd Street; a two-story, brick office/shipping building (1916, circa 1920, 1942, 1966; AHI#1456832) with large, replacement windows at the corner of S. 62nd and Burnham; a Contemporary-style factory building (1941; AHI#145683) that is largely sheathed with glass located to the southwest, and; a 1929/1941 factory building (AHI#145684) sheathed with brick and glass located to the southwest of the aforementioned factory and adjacent to a set of railroad tracks. The remaining two buildings were not photographically accessible and consist of a maintenance building situated to the rear of the office/shipping structure and a boiler house. Incorporated in 1916, the John Obenberger Forge Company purchased the subject parcel of land that same year. The first officers were John Obenberger, president and treasurer; Theodore Trecker, vice-president; and Carl Velguth, secretary. Construction of the original portion of the plant commenced in August 1916 and the first forging was completed in October. The plant increased in size over the next four years. In 1920, the new buildings were described in a newspaper article "25 x 175, 100 x 330 (the forge shop), 100 x 80 (the power house) and a shipping building (126 x 70)," while, the property's original building was noted as 100 x 100 feet in size. In the 1920s, the Unit Corporation acquired Obenberger. In 1928, the Unit Corporation reorganized into three divisions with two of them operating on the subject parcel. These were the Unit Drop Forge Company and the Universal Power Shovel Company. In 1937, the Unit Corporation reorganized as the Fuller Manufacturing Company and divested itself of the Universal Power Shovel Company. Unit Drop Forge remained a division of either the Fuller Corporation or the Eaton Corporation until a group of investors took over the plant in 1979 and started the Unit Drop Forge Company, Inc. Meanwhile, the Universal Power Shovel Company continued its independent operations at the site. In 1941, the company built a modernistic, glass-walled factory as well as additions to other structures. It changed its name to the Unit Crane & Shovel Corporation in 1956 and moved all of its operations to New Berlin in 1967. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Building Permit 2 October 1941.Universal Power Shovel Company History gleaned from www.constructioncollector.com. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |