The Founders of Harley-Davidson

William Sylvester Harley was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 29, 1880. He began working at the Meiselbach bicycle factory in Milwaukee at age 15 and worked his way up to a position as a draftsman. His next job was with Barth Manufacturing in Milwaukee as a full-time draftsman. It was in that job where he met coworker Arthur Davidson, who worked as a pattern maker. They developed a friendship that would grow into something no one could have foreseen.   About 1901 William and Arthur began experimenting with single-cylinder engines adapted to bicycles. They received help from colleague, friend and fellow draftsman, Henry Melk. The project was shelved in favor of a true motorcycle with larger engine displacement and frame designed for the job. The first motorcycle sale is believed to have been to Davidson friend Henry Meyer in 1903. A new motorcycle manufacturer was born.   

Arthur Davidson, born in Milwaukee, Wis. on February 11, 1881, was only twenty years old when he and his childhood friend William S. Harley teamed up to work on their idea for a motor-driven bicycle structured for personal use. In the beginning stages of their partnership they brought their respective designs and skill sets to the table, Arthur, with his own pattern for a small, air-cooled gasoline engine, and William, with his previous experience building bicycles. The Harley-Davidson Motor Company was incorporated in 1907, with Arthur as its secretary and general sales manager. Arthur’s outgoing personality, good sense of humor, and passionate belief in the Harley-Davidson® product made him a natural to take charge of sales at the new company. He tirelessly traveled the country recruiting dealers and establishing a strong dealer network, while also advocating for expanding global presence and foreign business. In the process of developing the dealer network, he foresaw the need for skilled mechanics who understood the specific needs of Harley-Davidson® motorcycle owners; the subsequent development of the Harley-Davidson Service School serves as one of his legacies. After the company’s incorporation, Arthur embarked, with a single cylinder Harley-Davidson® motorcycle, no doubt, on a dealer recruitment mission to New England. Due to the success of his trip, dealerships were established in numerous major cities by the end of 1908, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Newark. His activism within the company’s dealer network proved even more successful by 1912, when over 200 Harley-Davidson dealers were fully operating in the United States, and the first overseas distributorship was established in Japan. He connected to dealers even further through the impassioned articles that he wrote for the Harley-Davidson Dealer magazine about the benefits of high-quality retail displays and service.

Walter Davidson was born on September 30, 1876 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to William C. Davidson and his wife Margaret. In his youth, Walter raced bicycles and often did his repairs and maintenance in the family kitchen. In his teen years, he became a talented self-taught electrician, and knew how to make his own batteries. Possibly, his first paid job was working for an electrical contractor. Later, he learned a trade as a machinist working for the Milwaukee Railroad. In early adulthood, Walter also worked in Parsons, Kansas for the “Katy Road,” known more formally as the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad. In 1903, he received a letter from his brother Arthur, who had teamed up with their longtime friend William Harley. They made it clear that Walter’s machining experience would come in handy in completing a new motorcycle they were building. Walter quit his position and relocated back to Milwaukee. Together, the three finished the first production motorcycles sold to the public. William Harley and Arthur Davidson later credited Walter with the actual building of the first production motorcycle. They worked first in a ten foot by fifteen foot wooden shed. Within ten years, they had built a red brick factory site of over 300,000 square feet and HDMC was already one of the largest motorcycle manufacturers in the world.

 

The founders incorporated Harley-Davidson on September 17th of 1907 and named Walter the company’s first President and General Manager. The remainder of his life would be spent with the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Among his responsibilities was addressing the stockholders at the annual meeting. These speeches often outlined the successes, challenges and strategic direction of H-D through key periods of the Motor Company’s first four decades. Those speeches and other written evidence indicate that Walter was a man with a direct and honest approach. 

When William A. Davidson joined with his two brothers Arthur and Walter, and with family friend William Harley in their efforts to design and build a new and better motorcycle, he completed the quartet that would go on to found the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Although the automotive industry at the time was new and highly unstable, William was intrigued by the work his brothers and Harley were doing. He was already a skilled mechanic, and had been the tool room foreman at the West Milwaukee shops of what was at the time the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.  His experience brought a wealth of knowledge to the budding company, and his efforts went far to assuring its future success.

When the company was incorporated in 1907, William Davidson, who preferred being called “Bill,” became the works manager. As a tool maker, he was ideally suited to identify and purchase the presses and other equipment needed to refine the manufacturing process. His desk was always covered with parts from various stages of the manufacturing process: a semi-finished hub, bearing, shaft or rod. He knew the steel from which it was made, the processes it had undergone and those which were necessary for completion. He used this knowledge to continually improve factory operations, since the demand for Harley-Davidson® motorcycles was rapidly growing.

His expertise in the manufacturing process kept William Davidson in close contact with Harley-Davidson’s factory employees, whose insight he relied on to keep continually informed about any problems or possible improvements in factory operations. Among them he was known for his compassion, generosity, and willingness to listen to even the smallest problem. Remembering the days when he, himself, was pounding a hammer, it was his pleasure on Christmas to pack baskets for people, some of whom he had never seen.  Sometimes it was to buy coal for the needy or lend an overcoat to a friend who had none. Never were these deeds publicized. This affability extended to everyone he encountered; with everyone from machinists to dealers, bankers to politicians, he was willing to share his time. 

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