Morris Markin (russian: Морис Маркин) (July 15, 1893 – July 8, 1970) was a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n-born American businessman who founded the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company (which would later become the

Checker Motors Corporation Checker Motors Corporation was a Kalamazoo, Michigan, vehicle manufacturer and tier-one subcontractor that manufactured taxicabs used by Checker Taxi. Morris Markin established the company in 1922, initially named the Checker Cab Manufacturing ...

Early years

Born in to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

familyTime Magazine: "Business: Checkered Yellow"
September 22, 1930 in

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...

, a city in western

, Morris Markin worked in a clothing factory during his young years. His determination and hard work got him promoted to a supervisor position by the age of nineteen, when he emigrated to the United States in November 1912. When he arrived at

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

, he spoke no English and couldn't afford to pay the bond required to enter the country. A janitor at the facility loaned him the twenty-five dollars he needed for the bond. From

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, Markin went to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to live with his uncle. He held several jobs as an errand boy, the last for a tailor who taught him the trade. When the tailor died, Markin purchased the business on credit from the widow. He worked hard and saved enough money to bring seven brothers and two sisters to the States. Markin then teamed up with one of the brothers and opened a factory which made pants under government contracts during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. This company prospered after the war.

Formation of Checker Cab

In 1921, Markin entered the automobile business when he collected an auto body manufacturing company from an engineer named Lomberg. Markin had loaned fifteen-thousand-dollars to Lomberg earlier in an effort to keep the company afloat. When it failed, Lomberg returned to Markin to ask for more money. Markin refused and took over the company for his debt. He then picked up a failed automobile manufacturer, Commonwealth Motors, and with it the accountant, Ralph E. Oakland. Then, in a bold move, Markin purchased the defunct

Handley-Knight The Handley-Knight (as it was originally known) was an automobile built in Kalamazoo, Michigan by Handley Motors Incorporated from 1921 to 1923. From its inception to early 1923, it used the sleeve valve four-cylinder Knight engine. Thereafter, ...

chassis plant and the Dort body plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He moved his entire operation to Kalamazoo and on February 2, 1922 formed the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company. In 1929, he purchased the Yellow Cab Company from John Hertz.

References

External links

Internet Checker Taxicab Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Markin, Morris 1893 births 1970 deaths American people of Russian-Jewish descent American founders of automobile manufacturers Businesspeople from Chicago People from Smolensk Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Russian Jews Yellow Cab Company 20th-century American businesspeople