The Lawson Airplane Company-Continental Faience and Tile Company was a factory complex in

South Milwaukee, Wisconsin South Milwaukee is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 20,795 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History South Milwaukee was laid out in 1891 by the South Milwaukee com ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2001 and has since been demolished.

History

The Lawson Airplane Company was founded by former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player

Alfred Lawson Alfred William Lawson (March 24, 1869 – November 29, 1954) was an English born professional baseball player, aviator and utopian philosopher. He was a baseball player, manager, and league promoter from 1887 through 1916 and went on to play a ...

. 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 biplane airliners designed and built by Alfred Lawson under the livery of the Lawson Airplane Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The largest of the series, it was designed for long-distance fligh ...

, 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 . 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 pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major ad ...

is a glazed ceramic inspired by the pottery of

Faenza Faenza (, , ; rgn, Fènza or ; la, Faventia) 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 eart ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In 1928 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 the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and finally folded in 1943. Then Midwest Potteries bought the factory and manufactured ceramic lamp bases and figurines there until 1952. After that the complex was used as a warehouse.

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