History roars to life at the Harley-Davidson Museum
The Harley-Davidson Museum is a North American museum near downtown, Milwaukee, Wisconsin celebrating the more than 100 year history of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
The 130,000-square-foot three building complex on 20 acres along the Menomonee River bank contains more than 450 Harley-Davidson motorcycles and hundreds of thousands of artifacts from the Harley-Davidson Motor Company’s 106 year history. The museum attracts an estimated 300,000 visitors annually.
The museum opened to the public on July 12, 2008, on a 20 acres (81,000 m2) site in the Menomonee Valley. The museum was built in an historically industrial area of Milwaukee. Prior to Harley-Davidson’s purchase of the land from the city, the site was formerly used by the Milwaukee Department of Public Works, Lakeshore Sand Company, and Morton Salt. A 4 feet (1.2 m) layer of imported soil was added to combat the contaminated soil. New vegetation was planted to restore the landscape to its riparian state.
The Harley-Davidson Museum
In late February 2006, designs for the museum were unveiled. The designs were created by James Biber, a partner at Pentagram, his team, and Michael Zweck-Bonner, an associate at Pentagram. Abbott Miller, a partner at Pentagram, designed the museum’s permanent exhibitions. The firm designed the museum over a period of eight years.
On June 1, 2006, Harley-Davidson began the construction of the $75 million complex with a groundbreaking ceremony that included legendary Harley-Davidson dirt track motorcycle racer, Scott Parker, breaking ground by doing a burnout with a Harley-Davidson XL883R Sportster, instead of with the traditional golden shovel. The site includes parking spaces for 1,000 motorcycles and 500 cars. The Museum’s facade also features a 17-foot tall, steel Harley-Davidson sign
The Harley-Davidson Museum
HOURS AND LOCATION
Open everyday 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and until 8:00 p.m. on Thursday
Harley-Davidson Museum
400 W Canal Street
Milwaukee, WI 53201
1-877-HD-MUSEUM or 414-287-2789
