Marathon Motor Works

Marathon Motor Works was an early automobile manufacturer, based in Tennessee. It grew out of an earlier company called Southern Engine and Boiler Works, founded in 1889, which made industrial engines and boilers in Jackson. As such, the firm had metal-working and powerplant experience which could easily be transferred into the then-new and rapidly expanding automobile industry. It turned its attention in this direction shortly after the turn of the twentieth century. From 1911 to 1914 the company manufactured the Marathon automobile. Then as now it was common for auto manufacturers to outsource some of their components, concentrating on assembly and marketing, and perhaps manufacture of a few major systems. Southern Engine took a...