Harley-Davidson sold 132,535 motorcycles around the world last year. In its first year, it sold three, out of a wooden shed in a Milwaukee backyard.

The shed was 10 by 15 feet, according to the Harley-Davidson Museum’s archives . William S. Harley and his childhood friend Arthur Davidson built it in 1903, and it’s where they later sold their first motorcycle to a friend named Henry Meyer.

A Backyard Project

Harley was 20 when he drew up plans for a small engine in 1901, according to Wikipedia’s history of the company . He and Davidson started working on motorized bicycles that year, with help from another friend, Henry Melk, who had a lathe, the museum says.

Their first attempt, the museum says, was “a bicycle adapted with a small engine and belt drive.” Arthur’s father, William C.…