Introduction

Racine was founded in 1834 by Gilbert Knapp, a Coast Guard captain, who believed that his site - at the mouth of the Root River - was the finest potential harbor on the western shares of Lake Michigan.  In its early years Racine competed closely with Chicago and Milwaukee as a port, but eventually it could not counter Milwaukee's superior harbor or Chicago's strategic location.  In its heyday, more than 300 ships called the port of Racine their home, but by World War I, the last of them had been sold and had departed.

Industries such as the J. I. Case Company, Fish Brothers Wagon Company and the Mitchell Wagon Works were just three of many local concerns in need of skilled trades and crafts people. That need prompted the immigration of countless Danes and Germans and other skilled artisans to this area. Their collective contributions to the Racine community are deserving of recognition.

Local Industries

While Racine never fulfilled its promise as a port, it did establish a reputation as a city that made things:  farm equipment at first, but later, wagons, boats, bicycles, automobiles, trunks, clothing, furniture, and much more.  In 1913 the Racine Commercial Club conducted a survey to determine every item made here.  They listed 179 manufacturers and their products.  It became a local boast that Racine made more things of more different kinds than any comparable city in the world.  Some of those products became familiar around the world:  Case tractors and threshing machines, Johnson Wax, Horlick's Malted Milk, Hamilton Beach appliances, Gold Medal directors' chairs, Walker mufflers, Whitman books and games, Modine heaters, Oster blenders, Young radiators, Hartmann luggage, Dremel tools, Master Appliance heat guns, Twin Disc clutches, Jacobsen lawn mowers, In-Sink-Erator garbage disposals.

--From the Racine Walking Tour Guide