history

Allison Engineering Company was founded in 1913 by James A. Allison. It began as a machine shop. The company name was changed to Allison Engineering Company in 1917. They became a major producer of aircraft engines, hardware, and transmissions. They supplied tools and parts for use in the WWI Liberty engine. A year after Allison died in 1929, General Motors Corporation purchased the company and in 1936 it was still listed as Allison Engineering Company in the Indianapolis City Directory. By 1940, under the new name of Allison Division of General Motors, the plant was moved to Speedway, Indiana. While under GM, the company went through several name changes and by 2007 had 1500 distributors and dealers in 80 countries, and was still in Indianapolis.