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Oklahoman
With electric vehicle manufacturer Canoo planning to build a manufacturing plant in Pryor within the next two years, Oklahoma s auto industry is poised to roll vehicles off the line for the first time in nearly two decades.
It s the return of an industry that s more like a little brother to Oklahoma s other economic powerhouses of agriculture, aerospace and oil. But while it may not employ as many people or bring in anywhere near the revenue, automobile manufacturing here is nearly as old as the state itself.
In 1909, two years after Oklahoma became the 46th state, an independent automaker briefly operated a shop in Frederick, a small town between Lawton and the Texas border.
William De Schaum relocated to the Midwest and established De Schaum Motor Car Co. in Ecorse, Michigan to build a car called the Suburban. It was also not very successful, and Mr. De Schaum departed under a cloud. Suburban was taken over by ex-Cartercar executive Randall Palmer and reorganized as Palmer Motor Car Co. It soon joined with the Partin automobile sales agency in Chicago to become Partin-Palmer making cars of that name. Partin-Palmer reorganized into Commonwealth Motors Co. of Joliet, Ill, in 1915 and Partin-Palmers became Commonwealths in 1917. The Checker cab began to evolve when Commonwealth ventured into the taxi business with sturdy vehicles in four, and later six-cylinder engines.