My Mom was a machinist at P&H (now owned by Komatsu) at the main plant on the edge the Menominee valley - near the Brewers baseball stadium. Her commute to/from work would often take her down Greenfield Ave past the AC factory complex. When I was old enough to get a drivers license, there were several times where I drove her to/from the P&H factory. That was right around the time that Allis Chalmers closed up. As we passed the closed up AC factory one day, I recall her expressing sincere sadness for all the machinists that worked in that plant. She knew several of them because they all used to be part of bowling or pool leagues that were put together by pubs that serviced different machinist shops in that area of Milwaukee. It was a way for machinists to socialize and network... before the Internet. It is unclear to me exactly where all of those skilled workers landed, but I am sure in time they all found their way. The closure of that AC plant was devastating to that neighborhood at the time... and the greater Milwaukee area. Many businesses and people made a living off that factory directly or indirectly. Everything changed for that neighborhood very quickly. I went away for military service and came back to Milwaukee in the early 90s. I got a chance to drive my Mom to work one day while visiting on leave. I was shocked at how quickly the factory complex had been demolished and repurposed. It seemed so strange to see something you knew as a kid become something so different... while seeing where there were portions that were familiar. A factory that large takes a lot of time and work to erase. I live in Madison now. Mom is gone... I miss her so. Someday I may make a day trip to that part of Milwaukee to see how much I still recognize. Thank you for putting this together.
I love reading all these memories. My Moms Mother worked at AC in the late 50's early 60's Mom Born & raised in Greenfield. I still live in Central Wis. Mike M.
I was born in West Allis, lived in West Allis until 1980 then moved back 1991. The parade routes my brothers n sisters marched. The sky bridge lit for Christmas. My neighbor a retired printer from AC. The many machines I moved later on in life that were once part of the old AC machine shop that made it into private hands. Kmart and Builders Square coming to occupy the re imagined space. Tanner Paul fish frys. The restaurant that was once the offices on the west side of 70th was the spot for holiday eves from my wife's work. Shopping the Sears on Greenfield ave. ( kids today have no idea. I had to explain the catalog to one the other day. Mom hated it coming in the mail). I was born at the Mile when my mother went into labor in turn one during the drivers' meeting. Well, should have been. Instead of the infield hospital, they sent us to West Allis Memorial. Every summer as long as I can remember was spent in dad's fire truck. Or as I got a little older walking around the paddock and infield stopping to say high to friends n family. Life in those days was orders of magnitude different. The Milwaukee Road still functioned and the taconite was easy to find in the ballast of the tracks. I don't live there anymore. I was back in 2010 and hardly recognized the place. Last big event that happened before I left was the collapse of Big Blue. Thanks for the look back into my childhood I'd forgotten. Your mom worked with Norm Vogal, a crew chief from our race team and QC for P&H crane. He was the video camera operator of the day that the roof panel fell. Channel 12 WISN and others used his footage. Bud Seilig grrrr. My mom lives in Milton. Brother n sister still live in Milwaukee. I drove down Fondulac ave to Hawley rd, when I went to bury my dad in 2010 and couldn't believe the changes
@@irench Great memories of the Milwaukee Mile. My Moms father worked there for 30 Some odd years. Retiring as superintendent of building and Grounds in the late 80's starting in 1974 We had Free admission and Private parking to the Fair and I kept the Tradition going to this Day. Even during the Year it was closed to Covid I drove through the Parking lot. Free Tickets & parking ended shortly after Grand Dad Retired in about 1989 or so. The Garage at My old House in Wausau is Built from the Bleacher Seats from the old Grand stands, 1976. I had to show the new Owners the numbers stamped on the wood LOL...
My Dad was a machinist there in the 50's. When he became medically disabled his Allis Chalmers disability saved our family from poverty. I worked at some other big plants in the 70's, GE X-ray, and P&H and others. The Milwaukee area used to be 'machine shop of the world' back then. Lots of memories. Sad to see it go away.
Great video. I was a 3rd shift guard back in the late 70's and saw all those buildings still operating. Lots of memories of walking the shops at night. Seeing tractors partially assembled on the line, non-stop testing of parts in engineering. Great memories 👌 ❤️
while i am both fascinated, and sickened by seeing how far our great nation has fallen, we used to have millions of highly qualified, educated industrial workers with technical skills, not so today, we just let the whole damn thing fall to pieces. We have to start over, but this generation certainly isn’t made out of the same stuff our great grandfathers were.
Dad worked in the turbine division for most of his career. Besides the Manhattan project, they also worked on the prototypes for the space shuttle engines. My Dad's specialty was nuclear power turbines and he held an "N" stamp as well as top secret clearance, which allowed him to work on the nuclear reactors that power the Navy's warships and submarines. Also of interest in this video was the brief shot of one of AC's switch engines. Allis Chalmers ran their own railroad on the grounds, and had interchanges with both the Milwaukee Road and Chicago and Northwestern rail lines.
Really cool that there are people who are willing to repurpose these old buildings to retain some of their history, which is better than being in total ruins like most of Detroit's old factories.
Just came across the video, brought back memories of my childhood in West Allis in the 60’s and driving past that massive plant all the time, so sad to see a lot of the buildings gone forever
Learning that BCT now occupys the old AC plant was a pleasant surprise. The company I work for recently purchased an enormous BCT machine. I really like that it was made in Wisconsin and now is in production in Wisconsin for the cleaning of casting made here as well.
That was a great idea. I was a welder at Allis Chalmers in Laporte, In. for 7 years. I loved it. Hard work but premium pay. I started at 23 yrs old. Great place to work,excellent pay, it was in the old Rumely tractor division.
Thank you for working there. Just one question When you say great pay. Was there any part of the work force that was willing to take a PAY cut in the 1980s, when the forecast showed this big downfall of heavy equipment. I own a BUCYRUS-ERIE Backhoe. They got out of the construction business at the same time ( AC) Had their bankruptcy. Then as you probably know CAT just took over their Mining assets.
I lived in West Allis in the late 90's, but drove along 70th street under the walkway since the early 60's. It was bizarre to watch the place implode like it did. Right after they went bankrupt they had converted part of the place to stores including a big box home improvement store, a Cousins Subs, and I believe a Kmart. I just drove by there a couple of days ago after many years (I live across the state now), and there were massive changes again. Soon there will be nothing left, but I still see the tractors on a daily basis around my home. The neighbor has one parked under a tree in front of his house, and uses it here and there for his firewood.
My local tractor dealer still has their allis Chalmers sign mounted above their door, and a agco Allis sign. Inside they have old dealer signs and new in box toys of Allis Chalmers equipment.
Thanks for the video. Great job!! Mom (Lorraine) and Dad (Frank Bichanich) met at AC in the 1940's. He worked in the turbine assembly area and mom in the office. Mom participated in Manhattan project. Great memories.
I was born and raised in Milwaukee and used to ride my bike around that area. After moving to northern Wi. and marrying in the early 80s I picked up an old WC straight pull with a trans PTO that ran a sicklebar. When rebuilding it I found out it used mostly Ford Model A parts in the drive train. Bought it for 50 bucks, put a hundred into it and sold it for 400 bucks. It was a simple and good running machine. Wish AC could have lasted longer than it did. Love all the history, great video!
Great video but very sad to a AC fan who has ran ACs from the time l was4 years old driving a WD picking up hay to buying my first WD45 in 1968 and farming with AC till retiring from farming ahd now collecting AC with my old son with a growing herd or 11 tractors 6 lawn tractors and 14 pieces of snap coupler equipment also owned several gleaner combines starting with a 1965 C 3 Cll F G l M and lastly a N6 which was a monster in the field back in the late 1990s!!! l will be watchin!!!!!!!
As a resident of West Allis… thank you for putting all this together. Great work! We lost some AC buildings over time but thankful many still stand and have been repurposed.
Drove a D-17 for many years growing up. Loved that tractor. Wish I had it now. I also drove an Allis Cultivator. That was a blast. Used it for Potatoes, Onions, Row Mint.
We had an Allis Chalmers plant in York, Pennsylvania, it never made tractors but produced energy products as hydroelectric turbines and nuclear fuel rod components. Purchased from the S. Morgan Smith Water Wheel Co it was a fraction of the video's complex. The several block facility was sold to Voith Hydro which later expanded out of town. However the historic brick buildings were repurposed into a mini industrial park for office, business and manufacturing companies. As Allis Chalmers, Precision Components Devision I toured the plant in the 70s, they had a shop of vertical lathes which could machine 3 story high x 52 feet diameter work piece. Saw the millwrights setting up a billet of stainless steel to become nuclear fuel rod cell, they were standing on the lathe's faceplate 1 1/2 stories below yet the roof high above was removable to load the lathe or insert a wall spacer for taller work pieces. I have a cast plow shear painted orange in the front yard flower bed, the Allis Chalmers embossing on the back and my street number is highlighted in black.
Some of the Army Corps of Engineer dams On the Snake river, like lower monumental dam, still use the AC hydro Kaplan turbines to make electricity every day.
Kearney and Trecker had a large complex and headquarters that borderd Allis-Chalmers to the south. They manufactured milling machines, and at one time they were the worlds largest producer of milling machines. They played a huge role in pioneering the first NC machines. K&T worked closely with Allis-Chalmers, supplying them with many of their machines. They bit the dust shortly after Allis-Chalmers did (1991). The plant is almost completely gone with a small assembly building left standing that the city is trying to re-purpose. I’d love to go back in time and see that plant in full swing.
Kearney & Trecker invented the first numerically controlled machining center, including auto tool changing. Allis bought one of the first machines late 50's. Later K&T installed a fully automated machine line (FMS) for the new family of tractors (7000 series) power train housings.
I worked at the Fisher Body plant on 140th and Coit in Cleveland, Ohio. Compared to the AC plant the only thing that’s left standing is the water tower. It’s so sad to see the de-manufacturing of so many U.S. industrial plants, the true backbone of the middle class.
My dad always bought Chevrolet cars BODY BY FISHER when I was young kid. I remember 1960 Chevrolet Impala, 1966 Chevrolet 2 door Impala SS, 1969 Chevrolet 4 door Biscayne, I believe. All good sturdy cars.
@@maxpayne2574 if you look at upper management and exorbitant raises and wages, and look at the rest of us, there’s not even a decent comparison. I talked to an old timer, said if it wasn’t for unions, the upper management didn’t have it in the heart to help the workers out. Carnegie the steel baron was a great example of that.
@@CheeseMiseryep. He obviously believed the lies that his union told him. They also told him to vote for Biden and look at what happened with that. The unions are all corrupt now and you no longer get proper representation. Reagan belonged to a union many years and the day he was shot he was addressing a union. If he was such a union buster, then why did he do that. Moreover, the air traffic controllers threatened the security of our nation with their fake strike. If their leadership had half a brain they would have negotiated through their disputes. So, they were full of themselves and thought they could put the national in a stranglehold. Didn’t work, so now they just lie about the mistake they made.
Really a nice record of this history. Thanks for all your great work & research. I took quite a few photos & videos of the demolition. I have old videos of the streetcars going down 70th. Nowadays, very few people have any clue what the crane over the retail space is or what it represents .
Great video that brings back a lot of memories. My Dad was the managing foundry engineer beginning in1968; he was promoted by AC some point, and left in1974. I seem to recall that ACs West Allis foundry operations was the largest in the world at that time. During that time period the plant ran 6 days per week, and on occasion he'd take me to work with him. It was a kids dream watching new tractors being built and rolling out of the plant.
My Dad bought a new D-14 in the fall of 1962 and made the trip. I still have a souvenir cane that say's "Allis-Chalmers Land of Power - 1962" on the side.
Very interesting video. Allis-Chalmers was one of the brands we never had on the farm, so I don't know anything about them. I see a lot of D series Allis-Chalmers tractors at the antique tractor pulls nowadays.
Very nice tour. I live less than 2 miles away from there and remember when they were still building A-C Tractors. Then, they built Deutz-Allis tractors. I was in the (then former) A-C Club House a few times in the early 90's. The Lions Club, Rotary Club, High School Booster Clubs, and many other local organizations would have meetings and luncheons there. It was a shame that they ripped it down to build a surface parking lot. I've driven on every one of those roads. I've also been in all of the "public" buildings that now include various retail stores, restaurants, and a fitness club. When the plant was "revitalized" into retail, the four main tenants were Kmart, Kohls Food Store, Builders Square, and Blockbuster Video. There were other stores, too, like KayBee Toys and Radio Shack. As a side-note, you could see an Amtrak Dining Car, from a distance. When the fence is open, you can go back there. The large building beyond it was used by a company called Avalon Rail Car. They used to rebuild old passenger cars to meet FRA / Amtrak standards. Unfortunately, that car never made it into their facility. Rumor has it - the car is owned by Penzys Spices and was going to be rebuilt as a test-kitchen that would travel around the country. That railroad track is not abandoned. It is still accessible from the Union Pacific Railroad main line. The tracks used to connect to the Milwaukee Road (Wisconsin Central/Soo Line/CP Rail), but that is a bike path, now. The bike path (Hank Aaron Trail) gives you an amazing view of the Hawley Road building. You just look up and are amazed at how big "that one building" actually is. Johnson Controls remodeled the east end of the building, but the space had been a predecessor to Sam's Club. When it was "Warehouse Club," they did as little work as necessary to have a wholesale environment. They cleaned the columns, painted the walls, and polished the concrete floor.
We were amazed at the size of the place. Obviously, we did some research and looked at photos before the trip. But seeing it in person just left us in awe
Amazing and very cool! I am surprised the original power plant is still there. Maybe one day before demo it'll be powered up once again for the actual final time.
I grew up in the area in the late 80's and remember so many of the buildings. I just happened to see this and decided to watch. Throughout the years, I was able to see many of the buildings, when I would visit my customers who brought/leased the buildings.
Very neat video, thank you for putting it together! I didn't realize this much of the factory still existed, I was under the understanding that only very little was left. Would like to see more videos like this in the future.
@@JandLVideos Yeah, this was news to me, I had no idea it was known were in the plant they were built, let alone part of it was still there! Where did you come across that info?
It's a shame such an iconic company went down the tubes. I've always liked AC tractors and have operated quite a few as a kid back in the 60's. Models like the D-17, WD (std), CA, and also a weird backward facing front-end loader that was based on a WD-45 chassis I believe. The loader was a beast and did most everything well except STOP! When the company that built them did the conversion, they failed to wrap the band brakes in the proper direction for them to stop going (what was now) forward, but they worked great in reverse!🤣 The only way to stop in a hurry was to drop the bucket.😜
Thanks so much for creating this video! We are from Virginia and in 2018 we drove up to visit our son at college in Chicago. I snuck away one of the days to drive up to West Allis and visit the old facility. The main office buildings were still there and I could see where the crosswalk was connected to the two buildings. Glad I was able to pay the ole place a visit while I was there.
A native plant nursery in Ontario uses Allis Chalmers Gleaner K2 and All Crop 60 and 72 to harvest. Point59 Productions has a few videos showing them in action. Your video is great, I had no idea how large the plant was.
So this is an interesting thing for me to stumble across, but I’m a maintenance worker at the Agco Jackson facility in Minnesota, where we currently make Fendt tractors. Agco, of course is the successor to Allis Chalmers. I thought it should be noted that we have met Paul Good and use BCT components inside our metal prep machines before they are painted. It’s interesting to know that a connection is still there that deep in history.
I started working at a allis dealer in 1979 it was also a fiat allis dealer I rebuilt a lot of motors and transmission’s for a lot of years I went to dealer schools up there a few times great memories
Thanks so much for this- I knew West Allis was a large plant but I had no idea how vast. Not at all hard to envision our classic A-C’s coming off the line!
My dad bought a used model C tractor back in 1962 (which I still have) I also used to pass the site of the really old plant in LaPorte Indiana now nothing is there anymore.
I hauled a lot of AC tractors from West Allis to Canada back in the early 80s. Unfortunately, I never did get to see the plant because logistics was handled by Tractor Transport and we picked them up in their yard.
@@bobgleaser7106 One of my best trucker stories involves an 8550 I hauled out of your yard in September of 1981. The tale is far too long to tell here, and it gets pretty funny but if you are interested in it let me know and I will send it to you.
Heart breaking, we used to run Allis equipment on the farm, I learned to operate on an 8030. Dad got a tour of the plant in the early 80s, have some cool photos somewhere. So sad to see what has become of an once powerful industry. Middle class prosperity sold out by politicians.
I worked at that plant in 1986 they contracted our company to machine on one of their turbines and had it shipped to the machine shop for us to work on it. The plant was already in the closing state so it was like a ghost town all that was going on was they were moving all the tooling and disassembling the machines. It really sucks seeing one of the greats go down if flames and a piece of history just dies like so many others.
Hi there great video Is this where the allis chambers bulldozers were produced. I used to own a 1969 allis chambers HD6 Bulldozer. It was an excellent machine right up there with caterpillar of similar size. I would like to see a similar video on the crawler tractors
During the video. We see three trucks exiting the West gate with tractors. I do know where they were heading by turning right. Tractor transport was located just Northwest of the Wisconsin state fair park.
If you love the WD series Allis Chalmers tractor? If you still farm with it? If you can fix it when it has issues? Allis Chalmers is gone, but the tractors are still with us. I'm glad to hear your story.
I grew up in West Allis about ten blocks away from the factory I can remember seeing that water tower from the house we lived in way back in the day...very cool video!
It's next to impossible to describe how long the erection building was when wide open. Longer than the empire state building laying down. If you stood on the cat walk at one end, you could not see the far end simply due to perspective. You'd start walking but what you thought was the far end would simply give way to further shop. It was amazing.
Como es posible que una empresa enorme como Allis Chalmers haya desaparecido ... Me apena profundamente ...Cuando una empresa desaparece America se achica y retrocede ..Que triste
I was born in March 6th. 1961 so this plant would have still been a Mighty Workhorse in Farm Tractors, Along with MANY other American brands of one's many choices back in AMERICA's HAYDAY..
Considering what AC contributed to the world, this is sad. I would give just about anything to go back to the 50s and tour this plant while it was in full swing.
The efficiency of tomorrow's American farm will be head spinning with 24/7 tractors tilling and harvesting, precision operated by robotics while the farmer oversees operations from inside of the farmhouse. Bone of contention could be decision to use internal combustion engines vs. electric motors. Will GM, Tesla, or John Deere manufacture tomorrow's robotics fused into farm tractors? Whatever happens, the entire operation will be super efficient. Interesting to watch large parcels of land purchased by foreign countries.
Back in the seventies Ohio fast Frieght ran allis Chalmers diesel engines in there trucks. Hauling steel in New York ,Michigan ,Ohio and Ontario Canada.
