Introduction
Conrad Kissel (b.1812, d. 1872) emigrated from Prussia to Addison in Washington County, Wisconsin in 1857. His son, Ludwig "Louis" Kissel, moved to Hartford, Wisconsin, in 1883 and in 1890, in a partnership with his four sons Adolph P., Otto P., William L. and George A., opened Kissel Hardware Store, the Hartford Plow Company that manufactured and distributed farm machinery, Kissel Manufacturing Company, and the Hartford Electric Company. They distributed engines for various manufacturers (Through Kissel Manufacturing Company) and developed their own gasoline engines including outboard boat motors. The partnership was also involved in home building and sales through, a stone quarry, sand pit, and facilities for milling their own finished lumber. In 1906 Otto formed the First National Bank of Hartford as a principal shareholder and became Vice-President. In 1925 Otto was elected president and held that position until retiring in January 1933.
Added to the impressive list of enterprises was “The Kissel Motor Car Company”, which was founded by Louis Kissel and his sons, George and William, on June 5, 1906 in Hartford, Wisconsin. Kissel Motors custom built high-quality automobiles, hearses, fire trucks, taxicabs, and trucks from their plant at 123 Kissel Avenue, Hartford. Kissel manufactured trucks of 3/4, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 tons, and maintained a sales office at 2515 Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois in early 1913. In 1915 the company moved down the road to 542 Kissel Ave, the same year advertising in the National Lumberman their new models which included a whopping 6 ton truck to replace the previous the 5 ton capacity truck.
The Great War
During World War I the company produced trucks for the US military as well as the allies. In June 1915 Kissel shipped 30 ambulances and 50 heavy service trucks to the Kingdom of Serbia. By 1918 Kissel was producing the Standard B "Liberty" Truck for the military. Kissel prospered after the Great War, primarily thanks to the “KisselKar”, or which some 35,000 examples were manufactured. Only 150 are known to exist today. The Wisconsin Automotive Museum of Hartford has several of these remaining cars on display. The most famous car was one the company donated to Hollywood actress Anita King for her transcontinental trip in 1915 that marked the first-ever such trip by a female driving alone.
The Gold Bug & White Eagle Speedster
The most popular Kissel model was the 1919 thru 1927 Speedster, nicknamed the Gold Bug. The two passenger (sometimes four-passenger) Gold Bug was owned by famous personalities of the time such as actor Fatty Arbuckle and aviator Amelia Earhart. Other famous Gold Bug owners included Bebe Daniels, Jack Dempsey, Ralph DePalma, Eddie Duchin, Douglas Fairbanks, Greta Garbo, Gladys George, Ruby Keeler, William S. Hart, Al Jolson, Mabel Normand, Mary Pickford, and Rudy Vallee. The model to replace the Gold Bug was the “White Eagle Speedster” – a more sporting version of its predecessor. Because the Gold Bug and White Eagle were both referred to as “Speedster” by both the Kissel company and owners, there remains some confusion as to the models. It was a 1927 Kissel Gold Bug Coupe Roadster that was used in the movie The Eddy Duchin Story in 1956.
Things seemed to be going well for the company, but the Kissel Gold Bug and White Eagle were not cheap, and by the late 1920s there were a plethora of high end car makers in the United States. The perfect storm was brewing, and with stiff competition and the Great Depression, mounting losses, and an attempted hostile take-over by New Era Motors' president Archie Andrews, Kissel didn’t have the funds to continue and so filed for receivership protection in November, 1930. |
