Look through our Kohler product catalog now and through the years and you’ll find hundreds of faucets and finishes. From the simple, to the elegant, from the polished to the brilliant. But where did it all begin?

Let’s take a trip back to 1914. Kohler’s “K” catalog showed fixtures without fittings, and separate brass fittings that were purchased by outside manufacturers. But, due to the uneven quality of these fittings negatively impacting the Kohler brand, Kohler needed to start manufacturing its own brass.

Fast-forward to 1926, when the Kohler Board of Directors authorized $800,000 for the first “Brass Goods Plant” – aka our Brass building. The first days of this plant were spent manufacturing fittings and parts for the new Kohler Electric Sink (which eventually sunk shortly after its release). Handles and escutcheons were white China, and the brass was finished in both nickel and chromium plating. The brass line included 43 items by the end of 1927 and nearly tripled to 110 by the end of 1928.

It soon became clear the size of the Brass building needed to expand to meet the growing demand for Kohler faucets, and an addition to the building was added in 1941, doubling its size. However, the world had other plans for the facility, as the space was immediately devoted to war production, as cast iron, copper, brass and other materials were diverted to the war effort. In 1942, “Win-the-War” fittings of cast iron with a special protective coating were produced, and alternates to copper and brass, including iron, glass and plastics were adopted for plumbing fittings. Limited plumbing product production resumed in early 1944, with fixtures being made mainly for hospitals and war housing.

But Kohler’s faucet and fixture days were only just beginning. The next few decades would bring many new innovations!