The September/October 2025 issue of Antique Power magazine is available in our gift shop and will be available in subscriber mailboxes and on newsstands soon. Check out this beauty! Keith Kuhlengel’s 1926 Allis-Chalmers Model 15-25 filled the company’s mid-size slot perfectly!

A Dream in Dark Green

Keith Kuhlengel’s 1926 Allis-Chalmers Model 15-25 filled the company’s mid-size slot perfectly!

Story by Robert Gabrick, Photos by Brad Bowling

The history of Allis-Chalmers dates to Edward P. Allis’ 1861 acquisition of the Decker & Seville Reliance Works, a business established in Milwaukee in 1847 to manufacture castings and lumber and grist mill machinery. Allis then formed the Edward P. Allis & Co. Reliance Works, offering an array of stationary steam engines, pumps, sawmill tools, and flour milling equipment. As noted in the Encyclopedia of Milwaukee, Reliance Works, the major regional supplier of milling equipment, had declined into bankruptcy when its chief customers, the lumber and flour industries, struggled during the Panic of 1857. (“Panic” was the term once used for contagious economic uncertainty—what we would call a “depression” today.)

Following Allis’ death in 1889, his family continued the business, relying on the talents and leadership of steam engine designer Edwin Reynolds. In 1901, Reynolds helped the heirs create the Allis-Chalmers Co. through a merger involving Chicago-based companies Fraser & Chalmers, the Gates Iron Works, and the Dickson Mfg. Co. of Scranton, Pennsylvania (a manufacturer of air compressors). When Allis-Chalmers expanded and opened a new factory in 1902, it created West Allis, a suburb west of Milwaukee, the site of the company’s home for 80 years.

The Encyclopedia of Milwaukee also notes that Allis-Chalmers ran major facilities in Milwaukee, Chicago, Scranton, and Cincinnati, while maintaining its mastery over steam, gas, water, and electricity (aka “The Four Powers”). In 1904, Allis-Chalmers acquired the Cincinnati-based Bullock Electric Mfg. Co., bolstering its production of generators, motors, transformers, and other electrical products.

Unfortunately, rapid expansion often leads to financial difficulties, and such was the case with Allis-Chalmers. Brig. Gen. Otto Falk was appointed as receiver, and he successfully reorganized the company, incorporating it as the Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. under Delaware law in 1913. By late February 1916, there were more than 5,500 workers employed in West Allis within a total corporate workforce of 8,300. By 1920, Allis-Chalmers was one of the 583 manufacturers of farm equipment in the United States identified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the September/October 2025 issue of Antique Power magazine!