2009 OTHER CITYCOM

About Chicago Harley-Davidson®
Chicago Harley-Davidson® dates its historical roots back to Harley-Davidson®'s first official dealer, Charles H. Lang. Mr. Lang was a German-born businessman from Chicago, Illinois, who worked out of a small factory in downtown Chicago, manufacturing tools for piano tuners. Even then, Lang was a motorcycle rider. In 1904, he learned of the new Harley-Davidson® Motor Company and visited Milwaukee. It was then that he bought one motorcycle and agreed to become the first official Harley-Davidson® dealer in the country!

Because of his success, Lang moved from his original location on East Adams Street to Michigan Avenue in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago during the spring of 1912. Interestingly, one of the first Harley-Davidson® motorcycles that Lang sold eventually ended up back in his possession, and he kept it on display at his new dealership for several years. In time, Lang traded the motorcycle back to the company as partial payment for a later model. He had grown close to the company in his earliest years as a dealer. Alongside the four founders and two other individuals, Lang was voted in as a member of the original Board of Directors in October 1907. At that time, he was allotted five shares of stock, and in many board meetings that followed Lang would be instrumental in contributing to major decisions regarding company growth, motorcycle retail prices, and other matters of business for the next several years.