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The Lawson Airplane Company-Continental Faience and Tile Company was a factory complex in
The Lawson Airplane Company was founded by former
South Milwaukee, Wisconsin
South Milwaukee is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 20,795 at the 2020 census. Situated on the western shore of Lake Michigan, South Milwaukee developed as a streetcar suburb located south of Milwaukee.
...
. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 2001 and has since been demolished.
Lawson Airplane Company
The Lawson Airplane Company was founded by former Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
player Alfred Lawson
Alfred William Lawson (March 24, 1869 – November 29, 1954) was an English-born professional baseball player, aviator, and utopian philosopher. He played baseball, managed and promoted leagues from 1887 through 1916, and pioneered the U.S. air ...
. In 1919 and 1920, the company designed and built the first two US transports, the Lawson C.1 or T-1 and the Lawson C.2 or T-2 in an effort to establish a commercial airline after the war. The last airplane it attempted to build was the Lawson L-4
The Lawson L-4 was the last in a series of lawson L-2, Lawson biplane airliners designed and built by Alfred Lawson under the livery of the Lawson Airplane Company-Continental Faience and Tile Company, Lawson Airplane Company of Milwaukee, Wisco ...
, super airliner, a 56-seat, six engine large biplane. In the process Lawson introduced weather-proof cockpits, dual pilot control, passenger cabins with a center aisle and proposed the first nationwide commercial passenger service.
The oldest building in the factory complex was built in 1916 by the Pan-American Rubber Company - a 200 by 50 foot one-story building with walls of load-bearing brick. In 1919 the Lawson Airplane Company bought the property and in this building designed and built their prototype L-4, the "Midnight Liner," the second airplane designed to carry passengers. From this site Lawson attempted the first test flight of the L-4, which failed, hastening the end of the company in 1922. With .
Continental Faience And Tile Company
In 1924 the property was purchased by the Continental Faience and Tile Company, which manufactured art tile and quarry tile.Faience
Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white Ceramic glaze, pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an stannous oxide, oxide of tin to the Slip (c ...
is a glazed ceramic inspired by the pottery of Faenza
Faenza (, ; ; or ; ) is an Italian city and comune of 59,063 inhabitants in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated southeast of Bologna.
Faenza is home to a historical manufacture of majolica-ware glazed earthenware pottery, known ...
, Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. In 1927 the company added on the front section, which contained a showroom, a manager's office, and a vestibule - all decorated with the company's tiles. The company struggled during World War Two due to a worker shortage and finally folded in 1944.
Other Uses For The Factory Complex
Midwest Potteries bought the factory and manufactured ceramic lamp bases and figurines until 1952, the complex was then used as a warehouse until it was torn down.References
External links
{{commons category-inline, Lawson Airplane Company Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Buildings and structures in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Demolished buildings and structures in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin