Skip to main content

click zoom to display a high-res image
Photographs

First Four-Wheel Drive

Image

Five men pose with the first successful four-wheel drive vehicle, which was made in Clintonville in 1909. The inventor, Otto Zachow, is the man seated at the rear of the steam-powered vehicle.

Date Created:
1909

Publication Information

Date Created
1909

Physical Description

Format
Image
Dimensions
9 x 7 cm

Collection Information

Copyright Information

Copyright Status
NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES
Rights Holder
Wisconsin Historical Society
Unique ID
W013QCE
Legacy ID
WHi 40907

Image

Digital Collections

Explore more than 100,000 collection items online through the Society’s digital collections. For over two decades, we’ve been scanning, photographing, and digitizing materials from our collections, creating a rich and growing digital archive that brings history closer to you.
 
The Wisconsin Historical Society offers an ever-growing digital collection. Digitized materials reflect the full range of items in the collections including photographs, letters, newsletters, films, posters, architectural drawings, menus, and ephemera.

View Our Curated Collections

Attribution

For a credit line: Wisconsin Historical Society, Creator, Title, Unique Identifier. 

The Unique Identifier can be found at the top or bottom of the page for each item. The name of a downloaded file is NOT the unique identifier.

For bibliographic citations please consult the UW-Madison Libraries Citation Research Guide to ensure compliance with appropriate style guidelines.

 

 

Accessing Collections

The vast majority of the items in our collections are not online. The Society owns thousands of archival collections viewable in our Archives reading room. To view and conduct research in our collections, visit us in person.

Plan Your Visit

Photographs
World War I Trucks

World War I Trucks

1918

Trucks of the Four Wheel Drive Company of Clintonville manufactured at the Kissel Motor Car Company plant in Hartford during World War I, thus uniting in one photograph two early Wisconsin automobi...

View
Postcards
Four Wheel Drive Auto Factory in Clintonville

Four Wheel Drive Auto Factory in Clintonville

1909

Architectural rendering of a four wheel drive auto factory, with a smokestack billowing smoke. The four-wheel drive propulsion was invented by Otto Zachow and William Besserdich. Walter A. Olen was...

View
Photographs
Sternberg Truck

Sternberg Truck

1910

A 1910 model Sternberg Truck which was manufactured in Milwaukee.

View
Photographs
Oshkosh Truck Factory

Oshkosh Truck Factory

1940

Exterior of the factory for the Oshkosh Truck Company.

View
Photographs
War Departmental Trial

War Departmental Trial

1918

Captain Alexander E. Williams of the War Department testing the experimental truck that the Four Wheel Drive Company hoped to manufacture for the army. In addition to the four-wheel drive, the vehi...

View
Photographs
Allis Chalmers Tractor-Truck

Allis Chalmers Tractor-Truck

1914

During the years 1913-1914 Allis-Chalmers manufactured this vehicle, a tractor-truck, which was primarily sold to the French and Russian governments.

View
Go to top
Wisconsin Historical Society
Search Dropdown