1. Johnson Controls
  2. Insights
  3. This Month in History: June 1910

This Month in History: "Bright prospects" for the Automobile Business

Share

June 1, 1910: Despite optimism, auto business sold after founder's death

At a special meeting of the Johnson Service Company's (Johnson Controls' former name) Board of Directors on June 1, 1910, President Warren S. Johnson reported that the prospects for the Company's automobile business were "very bright."  Johnson went on to discuss with the Board possible sites for a new automobile factory in and around the Milwaukee area.  They eventually decided to rent a one-story, 60' by 120' garage on Wisconsin Street for $1,500 per year.  

Johnson Service Company had been manufacturing automobiles and trucks of varying types since 1901.

Johnson Service Company had been manufacturing automobiles and trucks of varying types since 1901, and while Company founder Johnson felt passionately about the burgeoning automotive industry, Board members' enthusiasm didn't match his own.

After Johnson passed away on December 5, 1911, the Company's directors sold off the automobile business to the White Truck Company of Cleveland the following year.

Share

Related Items
This Month in History: May 1985
On May 12, 1985, Hoover Universal, Inc. officially became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnson Controls.
This Month in History: April 1896
On April 9, 1896, the Johnson Electric Service Company (Johnson Controls’ original name) contracted with C. B. Kruse Heating Co. to provide temperature regulations for the new Milwaukee Public Library and Museum.
This Month in History: March 1933
Johnson Controls founder Warren Johnson and U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt shared a common relative, Captain John Johnson.
History
In 1885, long before anyone talked about carbon footprints or climate change, Warren Johnson launched a company to explore new ways to harness and conserve precious energy resources.