Mobile users:
For best results, view in Landscape mode.



The Mitchell Motor
Car Company:

The Mitchell Motor Car Company
manufactured cars in Racine
from 1903 to 1923.

The company was founded by
Henry Mitchell.

Henry Mitchell moved to Chicago
from Scotland in 1834.
In 1838, he moved to Kenosha and
started making wagons.
In 1853 he sold out his business in
Kenosha and moved to Racine,
starting the Mitchell Wagon Works
the next year.

In 1896 William Turnor Lewis
and his son, William Mitchell
Lewis, bought out Beebe Wheel
Works, changing the name to
the Wisconsin Wheel Works and
manufactured bicycles and
motorcycles.

Wisconsin Wheel Works sold off
its bicycle business and later
changed its name to Mitchell &
Lewis Wagon Company.

They manufactured farm wagons,
carriages, plows and other farm
equipment.

The company began manufacturing
automobiles in 1903.
The name was then changed
  to the Mitchell Motor Car Company.

The wagon business and auto companies
were combined into Mitchell-Lewis
Motor Co. in 1910.

By 1910, Mitchell offered six models:
2 and 3 passenger runabouts
and a runabout Surrey, each powered
by a four-cylinder engine, plus 2
touring cars, 4 and 6 cylinder
engines.
Prices ranged from $1,100 to $2,000.
They sold over 5,700 automobiles.



By 1919, Mitchell prices ranged from
$1,275 to $2,850, and retail sales
had climbed to over 10,000 cars.

In 1911, the company employed
3,000 people, the factory covered
25 acres of land and had 60 acres
of floor space.

Mitchell offered four, six, and
eight-cylinder models were built.

The 1920 Model E-40 had a rear
sloping radiator which led to the
nickname of the "Drunken Mitchell".

Sales fell through the floor, the
slump continuing into 1921, when
just 2,162 cars were sold.
In 1923, Mitchell produced
only 100 cars.

Sales never recovered, and
Nash Motor Company bought
out Mitchell-Lewis in 1924
for $405,000.