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Yellow Cab Company
The Yellow Cab Company is a taxicab company founded in Chicago in 1907 and today operating as a remnant of a once large manufacturing and transportation operation. Its rapid growth in the late 1910s and 1920s innovated a new kind of taxi company, one which covered the entire city limits, promising a cab to any address in ten minutes or less. In establishing its service, the Yellow Cab Company developed many of the procedures and safety protocols that would be adopted by taxi companies around the country.
In 1916 the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company was created, producing taxicabs, including for the Yellow Cab Company. The Yellow Cab Company's meteoric success also invited bitter competition on the city's streets, leading to a period known as the "Taxi Wars." During the Depression, Morris Markin, owner of Yellow Cab's rival Checker Cab Manufacturing Company, significantly consolidated ownership of the city's taxi companies, putting an end to the violence.
Yellow Cabs remain on the city's streets today, though ownership was split between multiple companies upon its declaration of bankruptcy in 2015.
The Yellow Cab Company was co-founded as the Walden W. Shaw Livery Company in 1907 by Walden W. Shaw and John D. Hertz. On Aug. 2, 1915, the first 45 Yellow Cabs appeared on the streets of Chicago.[how?] These cabs differed from earlier Walden W. Shaw livery vehicles in that they were purpose-built as taxis and painted yellow for maximum visibility. Shaw and Hertz designed the Yellow Cabs themselves to be tough and lightweight, to both improve fuel efficiency and reduce operating costs. Unlike Walden W. Shaw Livery vehicles, which operated on an account-based system of payment, Yellow Cabs could be hailed directly on the street or by calling the main garage dispatch center, and payment was taken in cash at the conclusion of each ride.
In 1916, Shaw and Hertz formed the Walden W. Shaw Manufacturing Company to manufacture Yellow Cab taxicabs. In 1920, when Walden W. Shaw retired from the company, the name was changed to the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company. The company produced all of the Yellow Cabs in Chicago's fleet, and sold cabs to other Yellow Cab franchises and taxi companies around the world. In 1925, General Motors acquired the Yellow Cab Manufacturing branch of the business and renamed it Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing. As part of the deal, Hertz joined General Motors as the president of its Board of Directors.
In 1917, Shaw and Hertz acquired the taxi division of the Parmelee Transfer Company. Charles McCulloch, the manager of that division, continued in that role at Yellow Cab and joined the Board of Directors of the Walden W. Shaw Corporation. After acquiring Parmelee's taxi division, Yellow Cab retired their cars and replaced them with 200 Yellow Cabs on the city's streets.
During the 1910s and 1920s the company was involved in multiple incidents of intimidation, harassment and violence with taxi drivers from other companies. In 1921, a Yellow Cab driver named Thomas A. Skirven, Jr. was shot and killed while standing outside a Yellow Cab garage. Two Checker Taxi drivers were eventually convicted of his murder. This began a period of particularly bitter relations between Yellow Cab and Checker Taxi which led to shootings, targeted murders and firebombings. This period eventually led to the involvement in the taxi industry of mobsters associated with the Chicago Outfit and other powerful gangs during Prohibition.
By 1925 the company was a subsidiary of the Chicago Yellow Cab Company, a public holding company with shares equally divided between Hertz, and a small group of other investors.
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Yellow Cab Company
The Yellow Cab Company is a taxicab company founded in Chicago in 1907 and today operating as a remnant of a once large manufacturing and transportation operation. Its rapid growth in the late 1910s and 1920s innovated a new kind of taxi company, one which covered the entire city limits, promising a cab to any address in ten minutes or less. In establishing its service, the Yellow Cab Company developed many of the procedures and safety protocols that would be adopted by taxi companies around the country.
In 1916 the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company was created, producing taxicabs, including for the Yellow Cab Company. The Yellow Cab Company's meteoric success also invited bitter competition on the city's streets, leading to a period known as the "Taxi Wars." During the Depression, Morris Markin, owner of Yellow Cab's rival Checker Cab Manufacturing Company, significantly consolidated ownership of the city's taxi companies, putting an end to the violence.
Yellow Cabs remain on the city's streets today, though ownership was split between multiple companies upon its declaration of bankruptcy in 2015.
The Yellow Cab Company was co-founded as the Walden W. Shaw Livery Company in 1907 by Walden W. Shaw and John D. Hertz. On Aug. 2, 1915, the first 45 Yellow Cabs appeared on the streets of Chicago.[how?] These cabs differed from earlier Walden W. Shaw livery vehicles in that they were purpose-built as taxis and painted yellow for maximum visibility. Shaw and Hertz designed the Yellow Cabs themselves to be tough and lightweight, to both improve fuel efficiency and reduce operating costs. Unlike Walden W. Shaw Livery vehicles, which operated on an account-based system of payment, Yellow Cabs could be hailed directly on the street or by calling the main garage dispatch center, and payment was taken in cash at the conclusion of each ride.
In 1916, Shaw and Hertz formed the Walden W. Shaw Manufacturing Company to manufacture Yellow Cab taxicabs. In 1920, when Walden W. Shaw retired from the company, the name was changed to the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company. The company produced all of the Yellow Cabs in Chicago's fleet, and sold cabs to other Yellow Cab franchises and taxi companies around the world. In 1925, General Motors acquired the Yellow Cab Manufacturing branch of the business and renamed it Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing. As part of the deal, Hertz joined General Motors as the president of its Board of Directors.
In 1917, Shaw and Hertz acquired the taxi division of the Parmelee Transfer Company. Charles McCulloch, the manager of that division, continued in that role at Yellow Cab and joined the Board of Directors of the Walden W. Shaw Corporation. After acquiring Parmelee's taxi division, Yellow Cab retired their cars and replaced them with 200 Yellow Cabs on the city's streets.
During the 1910s and 1920s the company was involved in multiple incidents of intimidation, harassment and violence with taxi drivers from other companies. In 1921, a Yellow Cab driver named Thomas A. Skirven, Jr. was shot and killed while standing outside a Yellow Cab garage. Two Checker Taxi drivers were eventually convicted of his murder. This began a period of particularly bitter relations between Yellow Cab and Checker Taxi which led to shootings, targeted murders and firebombings. This period eventually led to the involvement in the taxi industry of mobsters associated with the Chicago Outfit and other powerful gangs during Prohibition.
By 1925 the company was a subsidiary of the Chicago Yellow Cab Company, a public holding company with shares equally divided between Hertz, and a small group of other investors.