Los Angeles County
Biographies
CONRAD NICHOLSON HILTON
Conrad Nicholson Hilton, president of Hilton Hotels, was born
December 25, 1887, in
He obtained
his education at St. Michael’s College (
Mr. Hilton
began his career in partnership with his father in A. H. Hilton & Son,
1915; organized the New Mexico State Bank of San Antonio in 1913; cashier, and
later president in 1915; entered the hotel business in 1919 as owner of the
Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas. He bought and sold several hotels in Texas and
built hotels in Dallas (1925), Waco (1928), San Angelo, Plainview, Lubbock and
Marlin (1929), El Paso (1930), Albuquerque, New Mexico (1939).
While he
was building, he also was buying, leasing and selling other hotels. He bought
and rebuilt what is now the Wilton Hotel, Long Beach, California (1939), purchased
the Town House of Los Angeles (1942), Roosevelt and Plaza in New York City
(1943), Palmer House and Stevens Hotel of Chicago (1945).
He
organized and became president of Hilton Hotels Corporation on
June 1, 1946. This corporation with assets of $60,000,000,
is the nation’s largest hotel system. The corporation owns, leases or operates
under management contracts the following hotels: Plaza and Roosevelt, New York;
Palmer House and Stevens, Chicago; Mayflower, Washington, D.C.; Dayton,
Biltmore, Dayton, Ohio; Hilton Hotels in El Paso and Lubbock, Texas and
Albuquerque, New Mexico; Town House, Los Angeles, California; Jefferson, St.
Louis, Missouri; the Palacio Hilton, Chihuahua, Mexico; and the Caribe Hilton, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Hilton
Hotels Corporation also owns a majority of the common stock of Hotel
Waldorf-Astoria Corporation, a separate company. The hotel is operated under
the direction of Conrad N. Hilton, president.
On August
15, 1917, Mr. Hilton was commissioned second lieutenant and shipped to France
in March, 1918; assigned to 304th Labor Battalion service at the
front; received an honorable discharge on February 11, 1919. He was organizer
of the American Legion Post in
He is a
Republican; member of the House or Representatives,
In 1925,
Mr. Hilton married Mary Barron; children: Conrad Nicholson, Jr.; William Barron
and Eric Michael. His second marriage was to Sari Gabor.
Home:
Offices:
The Town House, 639 South Commonwealth,
Transcribed
by Marie Hassard 10 February 2014.
Source: Eminent Californians 1953, by Lee
E. Johnson & C. W. Taylor. Pages 187-188,
C. W. Taylor Publ., Palo Alto, California, 1953.
© 2014 Marie Hassard.
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BIOGRAPHIES