Manufacturing Hall of Fame

Alrich was born in Logans­port, Indiana. In 1870, he moved to Beloit where he worked as a draftsman for the Merrill and Houston Iron Works (which as the O. E. Merrill Company was the first manufacturer of papermaking machinery in the state, 1858). When this firm failed in 1882, Aldrich and four others began to acquire capital and in 1885 organized the Beloit Iron Works, using the plant of the older firm. Aldrich was secretary of the company (1885-1889) and president (1889-1931). An inventor, he was granted numerous patents on papermaking machinery. The Beloit plant was the largest manufacturer of papermaking machinery in the world.

In 1890, Lewis Miller Alexander moved to Port Edwards, Wisconsin, where he was one of the incorporators of John Edwards Manufacturing Company, a lumber-producing organization, of which in 1891 he became president. Dwindling lumber resources forced him to turn to wood pulp and paper making. In 1893, with Tom E. Nash and others, he helped organize the Nekoosa Paper Company and built a mill at Nekoosa. In 1896 the same group built a mill at Port Edwards. In 1908, the Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Company was formed through a com­bination of the Nekoosa Paper Company, John Edwards Manufacturing Com­pany, Port Edwards Fibre Company, and the Centralia Pulp & Water Power Company, all controlled by Alexander and his associates. It eventually became one of the state’s largest paper manufacturers. Alexander served as president from 1911 until his death. He helped organize the Wood County National Bank, and had widespread business holdings. Active in philanthropy, he was noted for his large donations to secondary and higher education. Alexander also founded the Nekoosa State Bank.

Born in Caze­novia, New York. In 1864 he moved to Milwaukee where he entered the leather business. In 1861 Allis became the owner of the Reliance Iron Works of Milwaukee, which was known as Edward P. Allis & Company after 1863. By 1889 Edward P. Allis & Company had become one of the largest iron works in the West, doing an annual business of $3,000,000 and employing over 1,200 workers. In 1901 his heirs incorporated the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company. He was active in politics during the 1870s and 80’s, and was twice Greenback candidate for governor. 

Born in Milwaukee, Wiscon­sin, as a son of Edward Phelps Allis, he began his business career as a clerk in his father’s firm. He left the Edward P. Allis Company in 1901 and for several years supervised the large timber and mining holdings of his father’s estate. In 1901 he invested in the recently formed Mechanical Appliance Company, a Milwaukee manufacturer of direct-current motors. In 1903 he was made presi­dent of the firm, and in 1922 the company was renamed the Louis Allis Com­pany, with Allis continuing as president until his retirement in 1945. The firm pioneered in the development of individual motorization of factory machines which, by eliminating line shafts and drive belts, contributed to safety and efficiency.

Following brief ventures in a wholesale grocery partnership and in a produce business with his brother, Herman Armour, he formed a partnership in 1859 with Fred­erick B. Miles in a liquor, produce and commission business. In 1863 he dis­solved the partnership and engaged briefly in a soap and candle business with his brother, Herman. In 1864 he accepted a partnership with John Plankinton under the firm name of Plankinton & Armour, pork and beef packers. The business grew rapidly and large branches were established in Chicago and Kansas City along with the extensive meat exporting house of Armour, Plank­inton & Company in New York City. In 1875, while Plankinton remained in Milwaukee to head the parent company, Armour moved to Chicago to manage their packing interests in that city. In 1884, the partnership was dissolved with Armour taking over the Chicago, Kansas City and New York interests and Plankinton continuing the business in Milwaukee.

In 1903, Lynde Bradley invented the compression rheostat, which offered a better way to control the speed of electric motors. After securing an investment from a life-long friend, Dr. Stanton Allen, he founded what would become the Allen-Bradley Company. Bradley held the title of president of the company from 1916 until his death in 1942, by which time they were producing a complete line of electrical control devices found in items from radios and televisions to RADAR and fighter planes. The Allen-Bradley Company was sold to Rockwell Automation in 1985.

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After moving to Wisconsin in 1842, Jerome Case opened a thresher machine repair shop and began working on his biggest innovation. In 1844, he developed a combination grain thresher and separator, and set up a plant to manufacture these implements. The plant enlarged over the years as demand grew, and in 1863 the J.I. Case Company was organized. The firm became one of the largest manufacturers of agricultural implements in the world and is still producing products in Racine today.

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As a young man, Patrick Cudahy became superintendent of Plankinton and Armour, one of the largest meat packing companies in Milwaukee. He later took over the business with his brother and renamed it Cudahy Brothers. In the 1880’s, Cudahy bought 700 acres of land outside of Milwaukee to build a plant and developed a village bearing his name by allowing workers to purchase lots with deductions from their wages. In the early 1900’s Cudahy Brothers became one of the first packers to sell semi-perishable canned hams and also specialized in sliced dried beef, Italian sausage and sliced bacon. The company – eventually known as Patrick Cudahy – was purchased by Smithfield in 1984.

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