History
Our company's founder, John Michael Kohler, was an Austrian immigrant, a businessman, and a visionary.
Eager to make a name for himself, Kohler purchased a cast iron and steel foundry in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 1873, and settled into life on the shores of Lake Michigan. That might have been the end of the story, with John Michael fading gently into obscurity. Instead, he made the fateful decision one day to coat an iron hog scalder with enamel and market it as a bathtub.
The bathtub was an instant hit and a new, exciting business was born. From those humble beginnings, our company has grown beyond what John Michael might have ever imagined, and his name has become synonymous with quality and originality.
Today, that same spirit of initiative and invention lives on at Kohler and in each of its four business units.
You can learn more about our history as one of America's oldest and largest privately held companies in our history book or by viewing the Kohler History Timeline.