Koehler, WI      7-14-12          

The largest employer in Kohler is the Kohler Company, a worldwide leader in plumbing products; the village itself was created by the company as a planned community in 1912 as Kohler moved their operations from within the city of Sheboygan to then-rural land purchased by the company west of that city.

The American Club hotel was built in 1918 to house the Kohler Company's immigrant workers and now on the historic register.  The American Club is now a luxury spa and resort and golf resort.

The Kohler Company was founded in 1873 by Austrian immigrant John Michael Kohler with the purchase of the Sheboygan Union Iron and Steel Foundry. Early products included cast iron and steel farm implements, castings for furniture factories, and ornamental iron pieces including cemetery crosses and settees. A breakthrough came in 1883 when John Michael applied enamel to a cast iron horse trough to create the company's first bathtub. The company has been primarily in the plumbing business ever since, known for plumbing fixtures. In 1888, the then Kohler Water Works developed the original trademarked Bubbler. They became popular, and other companies developed similar products under the generic term "drinking fountain." The colloquial word "bubbler" is still used in several regions of the United States. 

Kohler still makes traditional cast iron bathtubs, one of the few United States manufacturers to do so. Besides residential products, Kohler manufactures a commercial line of bathroom fixtures. The company also does artistic custom work, such as hand-painted sinks and toilets.  Kohler also makes a wide range of small industrial engines.

  Yes that's water streaming down in the center of tub

The oval box is actually a toilet  

 Tom liked this idea

What a fun beach children's bath

For you golfers --
Kohler Co. also has a Hospitality and Real Estate Group, which owns a golf resort in Kohler called The American Club. The American Club is the only AAA 5-Diamond resort hotel in the entire Midwest. The Whistling Straits golf course is associated with the resort, which hosted the PGA Championship in 2004 and 2010, and will again in 2015 and also hosted the U.S. Senior Open in 2007. Blackwolf Run, another golf course in Kohler, features two courses, and will host the 2012 U.S. Women's Open.
Kohler also owns the Old Course Hotel at St. Andrews in Scotland. The 5 Red Star golf resort is situated on the famed "Road Hole" fairway of the 17th green.