Diane Kurek Kaiser

The RISE and FALL of MARATHON MOTOR WORKS Diane Kurek Kaiser

Did I just read that Nashville, best known as Music City with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry, and barbecue, once had its own, and the South's first, automobile builder? ... You say it really did. Well, if so, what was it called, and where and when was it? ... Marathon from 1910 through 1914; never heard of it. Wait a minute. Is that connected with the boutique shopping and restaurants in that renovated area of Marathon Village over on Clinton? ... It must have been just a headquarters here in Nashville; seems far-fetched that there was an auto plant here in Nashville, so must have been somewhere else. ... The auto plant was here in Nashville, you say; must have been a really small backyard operation. ... 15th largest in America in its time with many hundreds of workers building thousands of cars sold across America and even worldwide. That is almost unbelievable! ... I still think you're pulling my leg, but if all this is true, what happened to it? The Rise and Fall of Marathon Motor Works, the first book of this Marathon Trilogy, answers the questions about the origin of the company, its move from Jackson, Tennessee, to Nashville, and the explosive growth and influence of the automobile company, along with its unexpected problems and abrupt closure. What we have written has been verified through multiple sources; however, our accuracy is directly dependent on the truthfulness of the sources that provided information over the past 100 years.