Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
Automobile Culture
Although Detroit is known today as the home of the automobile industry in the United States, Wisconsin - - and the Milwaukee area in particular - - made many contributions to the industry in its earliest years. Since 1900, more than eighty different makes of cars and trucks have been manufactured in Wisconsin. In 1873, the first steam-powered, self-propelled vehicle in the United States was designed and operated by Reverend Dr. J.W. Carhart of Racine. Two years later, the Wisconsin Legislature offered a $10,000 prize to the winner of a race between Green Bay and Madison in an effort to... more...
Original Documents and Other Primary Sources
 | The automobile population of Madison in 1903 |
| The early days of driving in Wisconsin |
| A Racine pastor invents a horseless carriage in 1873. |
| The great Green Bay to Madison automobile race of 1878. |
| An 1897 bamboo bicycle |
| La Crosse's first motor-bike, 1900 |
 | An original "Big Boy" plastic sculpture from a Marc's restaurant, ca. 1971 |
 | A 1910 automobile travel guide to Wisconsin |
| The newest automobile from Kenosha's Thomas B. Jeffery Company |
| The making of a Mitchell Car, 1911 |
| The Pneumatic, a progressive monthly paper for cyclists |
| A Guide to Wisconsin Automobile Routes, 1916 |
| A Tourist Brochure for Shawano and the Menominee Indian Reservation, ca. 1925 |
| A Tourist Brochure for Marinette Co., ca. 1923 |
| An 1897 bicycling guide to Wisconsin |
 | The evolution of gas stations in Wisconsin |
 | Harley-Davidson's first factory |
| Photographs of automobile manufacturing in Wisconsin, 1905-1968. |
| Images of the Winther Motor Truck Company |
 | A Wisconsin sailor recounts the attack on his ship at Pearl Harbor |
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