Checkered cab

Checker Cab

For six decades, Checker cabs, with their iconic black and white checkered detailing, were synonymous with taxi service in America’s cities, and those cabs were built right here in Kalamazoo by Morris Markin. A native of Smolensk, Russia, Markin immigrated to the United States at the age of 19, arriving at Ellis Island in 1912 with only one dollar and 65 cents in his pocket. 

By 1919, Markin ventured into the taxi business by taking over the operations of a Chicago cab fleet. Around the same time, he opened a body plant called Markin Body Co. that produced cab bodies. Three years later, Markin purchased a chassis company in Joliet, Illinois. In May of 1922, these businesses were merged into the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company. Markin then found that Kalamazoo had the available structures that a startup automotive manufacturer needed to get the business growing.

Checker was the most successful automobile manufacturer in Kalamazoo’s history and produced one of its best-known products. At the company’s peak, over 100 vehicles a day and 5,000 a year rolled off the line. In major cities across the country, in film, and in song, Checker cabs became the icon with which taxi service was identified.

Checker’s decline began in the mid-1970s, when the very features that contributed to the company’s success now worked against it. Sturdy steel chassis and big bodies made for a durable, roomy cab but contributed to a vehicle weight of nearly 4,000 pounds. The weight made Checkers “gas guzzlers,” and after the oil embargo of 1973 drove up fuel prices, it became difficult for the company to meet federal gas-mileage standards.

In 1982, the last Checker cab rolled off the assembly line at the Kalamazoo plant.

To read more visit: 

https://kalamazoomuseum.org/images/museon/2005-Fall-MuseON.pdf

Kalamazoo Direct to You - Highlights
  1. Checker Cab
  2. Smelting Pot
  3. Gibson Guitars
  4. Homer Stryker and his Revolutionary Bed
  5. Upjohn's Pills
  6. A. M. Todd
  7. People of the Three Fires
  8. The General Store
  9. New Settlers to Kalamazoo: The Importance of the General Store
  10. Something for Everyone at the General Store
  11. The Finer Things in Life: Saving for the General Store
  12. Hub of Information: The General Store
  13. 1848 General Store Ledger
  14. Farm Life 1860-1940
  15. Entertainment 1860-1920
  16. "Wash Day"
  17. Food Preparation 1870-1930
  18. Squirrel Tailed Pumper
  19. The Kalamazoo Mall
  20. Victor Gruen: The Man with a Plan
  21. Dreams We Shared
  22. The 1980 Kalamazoo Tornado
  23. Lincoln's Speech
  24. Mystery of the Mummy