[1][2] Ole Evinrude was born in Hunndalen in the municipality of Vardal (now Gjøvik), in Oppland, Norway.

The Evinrude surname, which he adopted in the United States, is an oeconym from the Evenrud farm in Vestre Toten, where his mother was born.

At age sixteen, Evinrude went to Madison, where he worked in machinery stores and studied engineering on his own.

In 1907, he invented the first practical and reliable outboard motor, which was built of steel and brass, and had a crank on the flywheel to start the two-cycle engine.

Evinrude let two motorcycle-mad teens tinker in his Milwaukee-based machine shop; one was named Arthur Davidson, who went on to Harley-Davidson motorcycle fame, also based in Milwaukee.