Harley-Davidson opened its first purpose-built factory on Milwaukee’s Juneau Avenue in 1906.
Before that factory was completed, the young company assembled motorcycles in a small wooden shed behind the Davidson family home. The Juneau Avenue building represented a major step from experimental production toward a permanent motorcycle business.
The factory was expanded as demand increased, and the site became closely associated with Harley-Davidson’s early manufacturing history. It is often mentioned alongside the company’s 1903 founding, but those dates describe different milestones: 1903 marks the company’s beginning, while 1906 marks the opening of the first purpose-built factory.
Harley-Davidson later developed additional factories and production sites, yet Juneau Avenue remained a symbolic center of the brand’s Milwaukee identity.