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{{short description|Transport museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022|cs1-dates=y}}
{{Infobox museum
| name             = Harley-Davidson Museum
| image            = Harley-Davidson Museum 0057.jpg
| imagesize        = 350px
| caption          = 
| alt              = 
| map_type         = 
| map_caption      = 
| map_alt          = 
| map_size         =
| coordinates      = {{coord|43.031|-87.916|type:landmark_region:US-WI|display=inline,title}}
| established      = {{start date and age|2008|07|12}}
| location         = [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]] 
| type             = [[Transport museum]]
| collection       = [[Harley-Davidson]] motorcycle and artifacts
| visitors         = 
| director         = 
| president        = 
| curator          = 
| owner            =
| publictransit    = {{Bus icon}} [[Milwaukee County Transit System|MCTS]]
| car_park         = 
| network          = 
| website          = {{Official website}}
}}
The '''Harley-Davidson Museum''' is an American museum located in [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]] celebrating the more than 100-year history of [[Harley-Davidson]] [[motorcycle]]s.{{refn|name="about"|{{Cite web |title=Experience Our History |url=https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/museum.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220524124223/https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/museum.html |archive-date=2022-05-24 |access-date=2022-05-24 |website=[[Harley-Davidson]] |language=en-US}}}} The {{convert|130000|sqft|m2|adj=on|disp=flip|sp=us}} three-building complex on {{convert|20|acre|m2|order=flip|sp=us}} 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 120-year history.{{r|about}}

==History==
[[File:Harley Davidson Museum.jpg|thumb|left|Harley Davidson Museum west facing photo. Foreground 2019 Mako Shark Road Glide CVO and 2019 Charred Steel & Lightning Silver Street Glide CVO]]
The museum opened to the public on {{date2|July|12, |2008}}, on a {{convert|20|acre|ha|adj=on|order=flip}} site in the [[Menomonee Valley]].{{r|about}} The museum was built in a 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]].{{refn|name="midwestmag"|{{Cite web |last=Kaczkowski |first=Manya |title=High on the hog |url=http://mymidwestmagazine.com/2008/07/01/high-on-the-hog/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080819202113/http://mymidwestmagazine.com/2008/07/01/high-on-the-hog/ |archive-date=2008-08-19 |access-date=2022-05-24 |website=[[Midwest Airlines]] |language=en-US}}}} A {{Convert|4|ft|m|adj=on|order=flip|sp=us}} layer of imported soil was added to combat the contaminated soil. New vegetation was planted to restore the landscape to its [[riparian]] state.{{refn|{{Cite book |last=Mola |first=Francesc Zamora |url={{GBurl|id=pvnMygAACAAJ}} |title=The Sourcebook of Contemporary Urban design |publisher=[[Harper Design]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-06-211358-0 |edition=1st |location=[[New York City]] |pages=459–464 |oclc=875769330 |ol=26111077M}}}}

In late February 2006, designs for the museum were unveiled.{{refn|name="pentagram"|{{Cite web |title=The Harley-Davidson Museum |url=https://www.pentagram.com/work/the-harley-davidson-museum-1/story |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220524123648/https://www.pentagram.com/work/the-harley-davidson-museum-1/story |archive-date=2022-05-24 |access-date=2022-05-24 |website=Pentagram |language=en-US}}}} The designs were created by [[James Biber]], a partner at Pentagram, his team, and Michael Zweck-Bonner, an associate at Pentagram.{{refn|name="disciples"|{{Cite news |last=Patton |first=Phil |date=2008-07-31 |title=Disciples of Harley-Davidson Get Their Church |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/disciples-of-harley-davidson-get-their-church/ |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-05-24 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130130051314/http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/disciples-of-harley-davidson-get-their-church/ |archive-date=2013-01-30 |issn=1553-8095}}}} [[J. Abbott Miller|Abbott Miller]], a partner at Pentagram, designed the museum's permanent exhibitions. The firm designed the museum over a period of eight years.{{refn|name="wsjonline"|{{Cite news |last=Landi |first=Ann |date=2008-09-10 |title=Head Out on the Highway To the Harley Museum |language=en-US |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |location=[[Milwaukee]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122100408693217179 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515092237/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122100408693217179 |archive-date=2021-05-15 |issn=1042-9840}}}}

On {{date2|June|1, |2006}}, Harley-Davidson began the construction of the {{currency|75 million|USD|passthrough=yes}} (equivalent to {{currency|{{inflation|US|75000000|2006|r=-6}}|USD}} in {{inflation/year|US}}) complex with a groundbreaking ceremony that included legendary Harley-Davidson dirt track motorcycle racer, [[Scott Parker (motorcyclist)|Scott Parker]], breaking ground by doing a burnout with a Harley-Davidson XL883R Sportster, instead of with the traditional golden shovel.{{refn|name="growingbolder"|{{Cite web |date=2008-07-11 |title=A Museum Goes HOG Wild |url=http://growingbolder.com/articles/technology/vehicles/a-museum-goes-hog-wild-172226.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629203453/http://growingbolder.com/articles/technology/vehicles/a-museum-goes-hog-wild-172226.html |archive-date=2009-06-29 |access-date=2022-05-24 |website=Growing Bolder |language=en-US}}}}  The site includes parking spaces for 1,000 motorcycles and 500 cars. The museum's façade also features a {{convert|17|ft|m|adj=on|disp=flip|sp=us}}-tall, steel Harley-Davidson sign.{{refn|name="Newsweek"|{{Cite magazine |last=Springen |first=Karen |date=2008-07-10 |title=Harley-Davidson Museum Opens to Motorcycle Fans |url=https://www.newsweek.com/harley-davidson-museum-opens-motorcycle-fans-92953 |url-status=live |magazine=[[Newsweek]] |language=en-US |issn=0028-9604 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220524132142/https://www.newsweek.com/harley-davidson-museum-opens-motorcycle-fans-92953 |archive-date=2022-05-24 |access-date=2022-05-24}}}}
{{clear left}}

==Exhibits==
[[File:Harley-Davidson Museum Bike Parade.JPG|thumb|Motorcycle procession display]]
[[File:Harley-Davidson Museum Board Track.jpg|thumb|Wooden board track section]]
[[File:Harley-Davidson Museum Easy Rider Captain America Bike.JPG|thumb|[[Captain America (motorcycle)|''Captain America'']] replica bike from ''[[Easy Rider]]'']]
[[File:Harley-Davidson Museum Tank Wall.JPG|thumb|Gas tank gallery]]
The museum's galleries permanent exhibitions, spread throughout two floors, in addition to temporary exhibits and the motor company's archives. The complex also includes a restaurant, café, retail shop, and special event spaces.{{r|pentagram}}

Also on display are historic Harley-Davidson items that tell the company's story and history, such as photographs, posters, advertisements, clothes, trophies, video footage of vintage and contemporary motorcycling, and interactive exhibits, including 10 motorcycles that visitors can sit on.{{refn|name="usatoday"|{{Cite news |date=2008-06-18 |title=Celebrity bikes to go on display at new Harley-Davidson Museum |language=en-US |work=[[USA Today]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |location=[[Milwaukee]] |url=https://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2008-06-18-harley-davidson-museum_N.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=2022-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081104112422/https://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2008-06-18-harley-davidson-museum_N.htm |archive-date=2008-11-04 |issn=0734-7456}}}}

===The Motorcycle Gallery===
On the museum's upper level, a procession of motorcycles is displayed down the center of the main hall, running the length of the building, with galleries on either side.{{r|pentagram}}

===The Harley-Davidson Journey===
Along the east side of the upstairs galleries, a series of interconnected galleries exhibit the Harley-Davidson's chronological history.{{r|about}} The galleries relate the company's history from its origins in a {{Convert|10|×|15|ft|adj=on|order=flip|sp=us}} wooden shack to its current status as the top U.S. motorcycle manufacturer, producing more than 330,000 bikes each year.{{r|wsjonline}}
The centerpiece of the gallery is "Serial Number One", the oldest known Harley-Davidson in existence, which is encased in glass. The glass enclosure sits within a floor-embedded, illuminated outline of the backyard shed the motor company was founded in.{{r|pentagram}}

===The Engine Room===
The museum's second floor galleries begin with the Engine Room. A Knucklehead engine is displayed disassembled into several pieces. The Engine Room also features several interactive touch screen elements that show how Harley motors, including Panhead and Shovelhead motors work.{{refn|name="hogheaven"|{{Cite news |last=Carpenter |first=Susan |date=2008-07-06 |title=The new Harley-Davidson Museum is hog heaven |language=en-US |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |location=[[Milwaukee]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-harley6-2008jul06-story.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-05-24 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220524133945/https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-harley6-2008jul06-story.html |archive-date=2022-05-24 |issn=2165-1736}}}}

===Clubs and Competition===
The Clubs and Competition gallery includes displays and information about Harley-Davidson's racing history. The gallery includes a section of a replica wooden board track, suspended in the air at a 45-degree incline. The wooden track features vintage video footage of actual board track races, and attached 1920s-era Harley-Davidson racing motorcycles; the bikes that raced on board tracks at {{convert|100|mph|order=flip|sp=us}}. Fatalities were common, which led to the banning of wooden board tracks for motorcycle racing.{{r|wsjonline}}

===Tank Gallery===
The museum's upper floor exhibits also include the Gas Tank Gallery, formerly part of the Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversary Open Road Tour. The exhibit displays 100 of Harley-Davidson's most memorable tank graphics, spanning 70 years, selected by the company's styling department and reproduced on "Fat Bob" tanks.{{r|pentagram}}

===Custom Culture===
The Custom Culture gallery covers Harley-Davidson's impact on American and global culture. The centerpiece of the Custom Culture Gallery is "King Kong", a {{convert|13|ft|m|adj=on|order=flip|sp=us}}-long, two-engine Harley-Davidson motorcycle customized by Felix Predko. The exhibit also features exact replicas of the [[Easy Rider#Motorcycles|customized Harley-Davidson bikes]] ridden by [[Peter Fonda]] and [[Dennis Hopper]] in the 1969 American movie, "[[Easy Rider]]", including Fonda's "[[Captain America (motorcycle)|Captain America]]" [[Chopper (motorcycle)|chopper]] and Hopper's "Billy Bike". Two of each of the two choppers were created, and one "Captain America" was destroyed in the film's production.{{refn|name=Wasef2007|{{Cite book |last=Wasef |first=Basem |url={{GBurl|id=jxWweoxJrxMC|p=47}} |title=Legendary Motorcycles |last2=Leno |first2=Jay |date=2007-10-15 |publisher=MotorBooks International |isbn=978-0-7603-3070-8 |pages=47–52 |language=en-US |lccn=2007009290 |ol=10900778M |access-date=2011-08-29 |authorlink2=Jay Leno}}}}

==Corporate Archives & Collections==
[[File:Harley Davidson museum archives section.jpg|thumb|Motorcycle archives at Harley-Davidson museum]]
The Harley-Davidson Motor Company's corporate archives are also housed on the museum's grounds. The archives supplied more than 85% of the items on display in the museum.{{r|hogheaven}} Since 1915, the company's founders decided to pull one bike from the production line to be preserved in an archive.{{r|wsjonline}} One motorcycle on display was recovered on a beach in [[British Columbia]] after being swept out to sea more than {{convert|4000|mi|order=flip|sp=us}} away in a [[2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami#Tsunami|tsunami]] that hit Japan in 2011.{{refn|{{Cite magazine |last=Billock |first=Jennifer |date=2016-09-12 |title=The Motorcycle That Rode the Tsunami |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/motorcycle-rode-tsunami-180960327/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |language=en-US |issn=0037-7333 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220403185637/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/motorcycle-rode-tsunami-180960327/ |archive-date=2022-04-03 |access-date=2022-05-24}}}}

==See also==
* ''[[The Hill Climber]]'' outdoor sculpture

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Official website}}

[[File:HD museum panorama.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Harley-Davidson Museum panorama, view from parking lot]]

{{US motorcycle museums}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:2008 establishments in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Milwaukee]]
[[Category:Harley-Davidson|Museum]]
[[Category:Industry museums in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Motorcycle museums in the United States]]
[[Category:Museums established in 2008]]
[[Category:Museums in Milwaukee]]
[[Category:Transportation museums in Wisconsin]]

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