Yellow Cab Turns 100

Yellow Cab of Baltimore celebrated its 100th anniversary Thursday with a downtown parade of taxis, including vintage cabs and even the most modern addition, hybrid vehicles.

W.W. Cloud purchased the Brown and Blue Cab companies in 1909 and renamed them Yellow, making it the oldest registered Yellow Cab in the country, according to company officials. The cars, however, were black.

Yellow grew and expanded until 2001, when Yellow Transportation of Baltimore was acquired by a global transportation company now known as Veolia Transportation. Veolia operates transportation services in 22 states and two Canadian provinces, including taxi services in cities like Baltimore and Denver.

Now, more than 600 cabs under the Yellow, Checker and Sun brands make more than 5 million passenger trips a year, said Mark L. Joseph, a former president of Yellow who became Veolia's CEO after its acquisition. Joseph's grandfather, B.D. Friedman, bought Yellow in 1954. Yellow "survived two world wars, the Great Depression, numerous recessions, Baltimore's blight and Baltimore's recovery," Joseph said.

As part of the celebration, Yellow, which early on welcomed women and African-Americans as drivers, honored longtime drivers and employees at a Baltimore Museum of Industry luncheon.