The Falk Company was created in 1918 by F. Otto Becker using ink and gouache on paper.

It
depicts the Falk Facility in Menomonee Valley which was established in 1900. While the artwork
was lost for a time, it was found and restored to its former glory and can now be found displayed
on the first floor of the Grohmann Museum. The Falk Company originally focused on rail, and
then electricity, however with the rise of the electric motor, the depicted newly built factory
shifted its focus to gears which were in high demand. This expansion impacted not only Falk
workers and the surrounding area but even affected the country at large.

Seemingly, at the time this piece was made it didn’t have much value. The painting was stored
away in a shed after being removed from the Falk’s carpenter shop until it was found by a lead
designer at Falk. (1) This is curious, however, as gouache is known to be expensive, meaning
this painting was likely done by a fairly notable artist. This on top of the obvious high quality and
explicit detail of the piece leads it to be quite the mystery as to why this artwork was stored
away and left to gather dust.

In the work of art, we can see how the factory was not only right next to a railway, but that tracks
ran around and through the factory itself. This allowed raw goods to be shipped directly to
where they were required and allowed finished products to be exported efficiently. With rail
transport, as well as crane lifts, heavy lifting no longer had to be done solely by hand, which
helped to improve worker safety. In addition, the expansion allowed for less crowded conditions.
With work spread out across a much greater area, workers were able to move more freely and
workarounds due to space constraints became unnecessary. While safety hazards didn’t
disappear entirely, the factory expansion and greater implementation of technology certainly
lessened them. Despite the many overall benefits, this new technology did create some issues,
namely in the realm of pollution, primarily air pollution. This factory, along with the many others
that can be spotted in the distance, was powered by coal and can be seen with large smoke
stacks funneling smoke into the atmosphere. This had a negative impact on the environment
and polluted the surrounding air of the area. Unfortunately, at the time air quality was not well
studied and this pollution did little to dissuade workers from living in the surrounding area.

Built in Menomonee Valley, Falk was located in a prime location; close to Milwaukee but far
enough that growth was available. While further land in the area wasn’t taken by Falk post-
original purchase, the factory’s opening spurred housing developers to buy up the surrounding
area. The closeness to the factory almost guaranteed that workers' families would take up the
nearby housing options. Quickly suburbs were developed around the factory and started to
blend with those built around other factories, expanding the surrounding area. This process is
an example of how towns and cities grow in size and population. Cities like these, and in turn
their states, tend to depend on the size and growth of large corporations to ensure economic
success. Falk, at the time, was one example of this type of large, growing company. The Falk
Company alongside Milwaukee’s other large prosperous companies led Milwaukee to be an
innovation epic center comparable to Silicon Valley, at that point in the city's history. (5)

The Falk Company was bought out by the Sundstrand Corporation in the late 1960s, and while
the factory still produces gears, it has branched out and no longer has gears as its primary
focus. Back when Falk primarily produced gears, they made gears of greatly varying sizes.
These sizes ranged from gears small enough they would fit in your hand to gears that you
wouldn’t be able to see the top of from the ground. Falk produced gears of many sizes, as well
as gears of custom sizes, which made their products in high demand, enough so that they
gained governmental notice. At the time of war, the government commissioned specialized
gears from Falk for WWII battleships and later contracted with Falk to create parts for
equipment in nuclear reactors as well as for NASA. (3)

While Falk today is no longer the large impactful company it was in its past, its history can be
seen not only in this painting, but in the many lives it touched and in the history of its
surrounding area and industry.

1. Grohmann Museum
2. https://emke.uwm.edu/entry/falk-corporation/
3. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS356
4. A Winding Path into the Gear Industry: The Falk Corp. (geartechnology.com)
5. https://www.ericgardner.net/forgotten-falk-corporation/