page_title: Kissel Motor Car Company
section_title: West Bend company
hierarchical_section_title: Kissel Motor Car Company / West Bend company
caption_attribution_description: Litho postcard photo of the Kissel Motor Car Company in Hartford, Wisconsin.
context_page_description: The Kissel Motor Car Company was an American automobile and truck manufacturing company founded by Louis Kissel and his sons, George and William, on June 5, 1906 in Hartford, Wisconsin. The company 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 advertised in the National Lumberman the new models that included a 1000 lb. and 6 ton replaced the 5 ton.
  During World War I the company produced trucks for the US military and for the allies prior to the U.S. entry into the war. In June 1915 Kissel shipped 30 ambulances and 50 heavy service trucks to the Kingdom of Serbia. By 1918 Kissel was producing FWD Model B 3 ton "Buddy" trucks under license from the Clintonville, Wisconsin based Four Wheel Drive Auto Company for the U.S War Department.
context_section_description: In 1935, the Kissels manufactured outboard motors and were major suppliers of Sears, Roebuck. In 1942 the business was sold to the West Bend Aluminum Company.
caption: The factory in 1921.
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