Millstones to Modern Trucks

It began in Richmond, Indiana, in 1851 when Daniel W. Marmon and his partner, a fellow named Nordyke, began manufacturing millstones. They were so successful that Richmond wasn’t big enough for their company, so they moved what had become the Nordyke and Marmon Company to Indianapolis in 1876. During the 1880s, the company expanded to manufacturing heavy electrical gear. That part of the company was bought by General Electric, but it gave the owners a desire to diversify their product line. By about 1900, Nordyke and Marmon had become the largest manufacturer of milling machinery.

Daniel Marmon had two sons, Walter C. and Howard C. Walter was business oriented, but his brother was fascinated with mechanical things, especially automobiles. Howard was educated first at Earlham College in Richmond, then at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a mechanical engineering degree. He joined the company in 1899, but even before he did, he designed an automobile and convinced his father to give him some space in the factory to build it in his spare time. It took him several years to finish it, partly because he made changes as he learned of new innovations in auto design. His first car was finished in 1902, and he drove it 50-miles to Kokomo, Indiana. The only problem he had was when the car spooked a horse that wrecked its carriage when it panicked.