At age fourteen, with seven years wood sculpting experience, Marcus Charles Illions left Lithuania and traveled alone to Germany.  He soon moved on to England where he carved for the renowned carousel and amusement manufacturer, Frederick Savage of King's Lynn.  In 1888, Illions traveled to the U.S.  He may have worked for others or set up his own carving shop to provide amusement carvings on commission.

Around 1890 Illions began to work for Charles Looff.  It was undoubtedly Illions who took the early Looff style and transformed it into the dynamic, vibrant creations that epitomize Coney Island carvings.  He continued to develop that style while working with others, including his collaboration with Wm. F. Mangels on the rebuilding of the fire-damaged Feltman carousel installed in Coney Island in 1880 by Charles Looff.  The resulting "Fabulous Feltman" carousel is said to be one of the finest ever built.

Creativity was Illions forté, and he was known to be a brilliant, strong-willed artist.  The innovative Illions is credited with the first use of gold leafing.  His flying golden manes were soon copied by other carousel makers and have become a hallmark of the Coney Island style.  Illions carousels and carvings are among the most highly desired of all carousel art.

After leaving Looff and making carousel figures for and with others for a few years, Illions began to produce figures to populate the carousels being built by William Mangels, a Coney Island amusement manufacturer, and the inventor of the Whip ride.  Mangels did not make carousel animals himself, but he understood amusement rides and, with his son, took out U.S. patents for a jumping mechanism that freed horses from the carousel platform and allowed them to be set in motion.

Illions, the son of a horse trader, owned and rode horses.  His knowledge of equine anatomy and motion, combined with his artistic eye and highly refined sculptor's skills gave his horses their highly realistic, highly dynamic style.  Mangel's jumping mechanism gave him the opportunity to use his knowledge, artistry and skills in the creation of an entirely new type of carousel horse, the jumper, which Illions captured in the exuberance of its full gallop.

From 1909 to 1929, M.C. Illions & Sons produced some twenty carousels and provided sets of figures to other manufacturers, including Pryor and Church, the Pinto Bros., and the exciting Steeplechase ride at Steeplechase Park in Coney Island.  The largest and finest of the factory offerings was its Supreme model with four rows of highly-decorated horses.

With mass production techniques already drawing business away from the more expensive hand-carved carousel manufacturers, the company was ill-prepared for the ravaging effects of the stock market crash and the ensuing depression.  Although it continued to service its older machinery until 1949 when Illions passed away, carousels were not produced after 1929.

Six remaining Illions carousels can be seen at:

•     Riverside Park, Agawam, Mass., 1909

•     Wyandot Lake, Powell, Ohio, 1914

•     Geauga Lake, Aurora, Ohio, 1918 Illions Supreme

•     Hempstead Lake State Park, NY, c. 1920

•     San Francisco Zoo, Calif., c. 1921

•     Flushing Meadows, Queens, NY
         combined in 1964 from the remains of the
         1903 Feltman and 1908 Stubbmann carousels