William Turnor Lewis

William Turnor Lewis (March 10, 1840 – December 30, 1915) was an American businessman, Republican politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was one of the founders of the Mitchell-Lewis Motor Company. He also served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the city of Racine during the 1897 session, and was an important contributor in the establishment of the primary election system in Wisconsin.

Biography William T. Lewis was born in Utica, New York, in March 1840. He was raised and educated there and came to Wisconsin with his older brother in 1855. They settled at Racine, Wisconsin, where he would reside for the rest of his life. He studied telegraphy under his older brother, James F. Lewis, who was manager of the Racine office of the Western Union Telegraph Company. After James quit in 1861 to focus on studying law, William became manager of the Western Union office. After the outbreak of the American Civil War, he volunteered with the U.S. Military Telegraph Corps and served at the headquarters of the Union Army XV Corps until the end of the Atlanta campaign.

Rather than running for re-election in the Assembly in 1898, Lewis sought the Republican nomination for Wisconsin State Senate, but was defeated for the nomination by Kenosha County state representative John F. Reynolds.

Personal life and legacy

William T. Lewis was a son of Welsh American immigrants William J. Lewis and his wife Jane ( Turnor). William's elder brother, went on to become the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada.

Under Lewis, the company established a new manufacturing plant at 815 8th Street in Racine in 1910. The Lewis-Mitchell Motor Company was bought out by Nash Motors eight years after Lewis' death. The Lewis-Mitchell plant in Racine would go on to produce Nash's Ajax automobile. Nash continued to operate the plant until 1939, when they merged with the Kelvinator appliance company and created Nash-Kelvinator. The Racine plant was shut down and most of its machinery was transferred to a plant in the neighboring city Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The building still stands and was converted to apartment lofts in 2004. It is listed as the Mitchell Lewis Building in the National Register of Historic Places.

The original site of the Lewis-Mitchell Wagon Company (on 6th Street) is now the site of the Racine City Hall building.

The Racine Rubber Company later became known as the Ajax Rubber Company. The company ceased operation in 1930s, but the most lasting legacy of the company was a neighborhood of homes built by the company around their plant as a benefit for their employees in the 1910s, under the direction of Lewis and his son. The neighborhood of homes on the west side of the city of Racine is still known as "Rubberville" and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Racine Rubber Company Homes Historic District.

Electoral history Wisconsin Assembly (1896)

Wisconsin Senate (1898)