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Description
Inside the Antique Archaeology store inside of the former Marathon Motor Works in Nashville, Tennessee, June 26, 2019.

The factory building was built in 1881 as "The Phoenix Cotton Mill".

In 1910 Augustus H. Robinson, and some other investors, purchased the automobile division of Southern Engine and Boiler Works. Production was moved to this building, which was, at that time, vacant.

The new company changed the brand name from "Southerns" to "Marathon" in honor of the 1904 Olympics.

Marathon was initially successful, but then there were conflicts between the board of directors and the engineers and soon critical personnel began to leave. In addition, some on the board of directors were involved in some "financial improprieties". I don't know if that means embezzlement or what, but in any case production stopped in 1914 when the company could not pay it's suppliers.

There are only nine functional Marathon cars still in existence.

After that, there is a big hole in the history of the building. So jumping ahead to present day, the building was (at some point) bought by Barry Lyle Walker. Mr Walker has restored (an ongoing process) the building. It is currently is a combination of museum, shopping mall, office building. There is one store called Antique Archaeology, owned by Mike Wolfe from the TV show, “American Pickers”.

Description
Inside the Antique Archaeology store inside of the former Marathon Motor Works in Nashville, Tennessee, June 26, 2019.

The factory building was built in 1881 as "The Phoenix Cotton Mill".

In 1910 Augustus H. Robinson, and some other investors, purchased the automobile division of Southern Engine and Boiler Works. Production was moved to this building, which was, at that time, vacant.

The new company changed the brand name from "Southerns" to "Marathon" in honor of the 1904 Olympics.

Marathon was initially successful, but then there were conflicts between the board of directors and the engineers and soon critical personnel began to leave. In addition, some on the board of directors were involved in some "financial improprieties". I don't know if that means embezzlement or what, but in any case production stopped in 1914 when the company could not pay it's suppliers.

There are only nine functional Marathon cars still in existence.

After that, there is a big hole in the history of the building. So jumping ahead to present day, the building was (at some point) bought by Barry Lyle Walker. Mr Walker has restored (an ongoing process) the building. It is currently is a combination of museum, shopping mall, office building. There is one store called Antique Archaeology, owned by Mike Wolfe from the TV show, “American Pickers”.