It is strange to think that Harley-Davidson, the now global giant in the world of motorcycling, began its story without fanfare or celebration, a single flake amid the blizzard of motorcycle brands blanketing the country at the turn of the century. A genuine personification of the American dream, what would eventually become The Harley-Davidson Motor Company famously began in the imagination of two boyhood friends, neighbors Arthur Davidson and William S. Harley, who became enthralled with creating their own motorized cycle as soon as the technology arrived in the US. Undoubtedly inspired by machines from America’s earliest motorcycle builders like E. R. Thomas, as well as local upstarts like Mitchell and Merkel humming and popping on the streets of Milwaukee by 1901, the first evidence of the teenaged duo’s exploration dates to a schematic sketch William Harley made of a small engine in July 1901. Still, it wasn’t until the practical machining skills of Arthur’s experienced older brother, Walter, who returned to Milwaukee from his railroad job in Kansas for the eldest Davidson brother, William’s wedding in 1903, that the first complete and functional Harley-Davidson came together in a real way. Together, the trio spent the winter of 1903/1904 working out the kinks and gremlins discovered in that prototype in the Davidson family home’s back yard shed on shed to produce a more robust, production-ready motorcycle by the spring of 1904, with three more built by the end of the year.
Though not as recognizable as many of his iconic peers, Robert Thomas Stubbs, better known as Bob, was a champion pioneer in the earliest days of motorcycle sport at the turn of the century. Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, Stubbs was the eldest of ten children of Lizzie Gilbert and Thomas Jefferson Stubbs, a Confederate soldier who fought in the battles of Tuscaloosa and Chickamauga. Like many of America's first motorcycle racers, Stubbs was active in the cycling world of the late 1800s, competing in regional events throughout the southeast. His passion for two-wheeled racing soon turned to the exciting new motorized machines as they first appeared in the South. As Indian was among the first manufacturers to establish a firm grip on production and distribution at scale, Stubbs' name became among the first in the American South, just as his counterpart in Georgia, Harry Glenn, to appear beside mentions of the Springfield marque in the earliest local competitions. By 1907, Stubbs had been elected President of the newly formed Birmingham Motorcycle Club, where he organized some of the first track competitions in the region at the nearby dirt track at the Alabama State Fairgrounds, arranging the first ever meet there on July 4, 1907, and sweeping every event.
The tail end of 1914 stirred talk throughout the motorcycling world of a new contender in the racing game, and with Harley-Davidson’s victories in Venice, Oklahoma City, and La Grande as the 1915 season began, the rumblings had been proven true. Still, it was at the 2nd annual Dodge City 300, the Coyote Classic held July 3rd, 1915, that the Motor Company staked its claim as the American motorcycle manufacturer to beat. All of the momentum built by the company over the previous decade and the effort put in by Bill Ottaway to create a world-class racing team the year before came to a crest in a small town in the heart of America as the eyes of the motoring world turned towards Kansas.
Seen here is the Harley-Davidson Motor Company in 1906, featuring founders, staff, and customers alongside a handful of its earliest machines. The photo is listed as 1906; however, it may actually be 1907, as it was taken in front of the Chestnut Street factory, the first expansion beyond the Davidson family's shed. This is because Chestnut St. wasn't complete until December 1906, so if this was taken then it looks unseasonably balmy.
