Part 1
Wisconsin is famous around the globe for its incredible cheese and legendary breweries. Our state is also a historic powerhouse of American capitalism, which has helped enrich the lives of individuals and communities here for generations. From the shores of Lake Michigan to the sprawling farmland to the north woods, Wisconsin has bred innovators who completely changed their industries (and sometimes created them).
Here are the first of the titans of commerce we’re highlighting a we celebrate our state’s place in America at 250. These are men and women who built empires and changed lives for the better, right here in our backyard.
Zalmon G. Simmons
The Simmons Bedding Company (Kenosha)
Before people all over the world were resting easy on Simmons mattresses, Zalmon Simmons was a true Kenosha pioneer. He was a restless businessman who dabbled in everything from manufacturing cheese boxes to building local telegraph lines.
He eventually realized that the heavy wire used for his telegraph expansion could be repurposed to make woven wire spring beds. The Simmons Bedding Company was born in Kenosha in the 1870s and revolutionized how the entire world sleeps. The sprawling Kenosha plant remained a primary economic engine for the lakefront city for generations.
William Horlick
Horlick’s Malted Milk (Racine)
If you have ever enjoyed a malted milkshake or a handful of malted milk candy at the movies, you owe a debt of gratitude to Racine’s William Horlick. Horlick immigrated from England and set out to create a nutritional, easily digestible supplement for infants and people with strict dietary restrictions. He patented malted milk in 1883, and the creation became a massive commercial success.
It even became a vital survival staple for global explorers: Roald Amundsen famously packed Horlick’s Malted Milk on his historic journey to the South Pole. The gothic clocktower of the original factory still stands today as a monument to his Racine-based empire.
Edward P. Allis
Allis-Chalmers (Milwaukee and West Allis)
The industrial might of the Midwest was forged in the foundries of men like Edward P. Allis. He purchased a bankrupt Milwaukee machine shop in 1861 and transformed it into a manufacturing juggernaut.
What eventually became the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company produced massive milling equipment, giant steam engines, and the iconic bright orange tractors that worked farms across the globe. At its peak, the company employed tens of thousands of Wisconsinites and even built specialized industrial equipment used in the Manhattan Project.
Pleasant Rowland
American Girl (Middleton)
Moving closer to the modern era, Pleasant Rowland proves that Wisconsin’s entrepreneurial spirit remains incredibly sharp. A former educator and textbook author, Rowland noticed a massive gap in the toy market. She wanted dolls that celebrated American history and provided educational value to young girls rather than focusing on teenage fashion.
She launched the American Girl company out of Middleton in 1986, and it grew into a cultural phenomenon. She eventually sold the business to Mattel for hundreds of millions of dollars while ensuring the corporate headquarters stayed rooted right here in Dane County.
John Michael Kohler
Kohler Co. (Kohler)
In 1873, an Austrian immigrant named John Michael Kohler purchased a Sheboygan foundry that made hitching posts and farm implements. His breakthrough moment came in 1883 when he took a cast-iron horse trough, heated it to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit, and coated it with enamel powder. He sold it to a local farmer as a bathtub for the price of one cow and fourteen chickens.
That single moment of ingenuity laid the foundation for Kohler Co., which evolved into a global leader in plumbing fixtures, precision engines, and world-class hospitality.
Ardie Clark Halyard
Columbia Savings and Loan Association (Milwaukee)
In 1924, Ardie Clark Halyard and her husband Wilbur noticed that Milwaukee’s growing African American population was systematically locked out of home ownership due to discriminatory banking practices. Rather than accepting the status quo, she co-founded Columbia Savings and Loan Association, the very first Black-owned financial institution in Wisconsin.
Operating initially out of a tiny one-room office with no paid staff, Halyard served as the managing director for decades, donating her time to ensure families could secure home mortgages and build generational wealth. Her fierce commitment to economic self-reliance laid the groundwork for the thriving Halyard Park neighborhood.
Samuel Curtis Johnson
S.C. Johnson (Racine) Samuel Curtis Johnson started his business journey in Racine in 1886 by purchasing a parquet flooring business. He quickly noticed that his customers desperately needed a product to preserve and care for their beautiful new wood floors.
Working in his own laboratory, he developed Johnson’s Prepared Wax, and the demand for the wax quickly eclipsed the flooring business itself. Through generations of tight family leadership, S.C. Johnson grew from a small floor wax company into a multi-billion-dollar global empire of household consumer goods.
William S. Harley and the Davidson Brothers
Harley-Davidson Motor Company (Milwaukee)
In 1903, out of a small wooden shed in Milwaukee, William S. Harley and brothers Arthur, Walter, and William Davidson finished their first operational motorized bicycle. They designed it to take the hard work out of pedaling, but they quickly realized they had built something much bigger.
By combining top-tier engineering with an unmistakable brand identity, they survived the Great Depression and grew Harley-Davidson into the most iconic motorcycle manufacturer in human history, keeping its corporate headquarters on Juneau Avenue to this day.
Free market Capitalism has lifted billions out of poverty across the globe. You cannot celebrate the history of America at 250 without acknowledging the contribution of American Capitalists. Wisconsin has and remains home to many incredible men and women whose contributions to Americans’ prosperity continue to echo to this day. This is the first of several posts celebrating the men and women who took risks and made a difference by making something, right here in Wisconsin.
Previously at Dairyland Sentinel
