MARQUETTE — Saginaw, Michigan (1912) (not to be confused with https://www.autowp.ru/marquette)

Marquette resulted from the buying binge that William C. Durant embarked upon after founding General Motors in 1908. Two among the myriad companies he purchased were the Rainier of Saginaw and the Welch-Detroit of Detroit. The Marquette Motor Company was organized in 1909 with headquarters in Saginaw to continue production of the Rainier and to produce parts for the Welch-Detroit, both of these cars surviving under their own names into 1911. The Marquette name did appear in 1909-1910 hyphenated as Marquette-Buick when Billy Durant decided to take Buick racing, and, in order to follow the letter of the prevailing race regulations, needed another name to do it. Marquette-Buicks were formidable contenders in a number of competition events, with Bob Burman and Louis Chevrolet usually driving. The Marquette production car, which was designed by Durant man A.B.C. Hardy, was introduced late in 1911 as "the outgrowth of two well-established and favorably known cars, the Rainier and the Welch-Detroit." It was a T-head four offered in two horsepower and wheelbase sizes and priced in the $3000-$4000 range. Marquette Motor Car Company was the firm's new designation, but it did not remain long. In late February of 1912 it was announced the Marquette had changed its name to Peninsular Motor Company. Officially, this was to avoid confusion with the Marquette company which had been established in Detroit late in 1911 to handle the output of the Saginaw factory’s production. The reasoning was curious, but there was confusion aplenty by this time. In September of 1910 Billy Durant had lost control of General Motors, and the syndicate in charge now was trying to pick up the pieces of what he had left behind. The Marquette seems to have been an attempt to consolidate losses of the Rainier and the Welch-Detroit and turn them into a profit with one new car. There was a quick change of syndicate mind on that, however. In September of 1912 General Motors announced the discontinuation of the Marquette automobile. Some of the last cars produced seem to have carried the Peninsular name. Although this cannot be substantially documented, two Peninsular cars were subsequently registered in the state of Michigan.

Standard catalog of American cars, 1805-1942 (1989)