Conrad Hilton

Conrad Nicholson Hilton was born on 25 December 1887 in San Antonio, New Mexico Territory, and died on 3 January 1979 in Santa Monica, California, aged 91. He grew up helping at his father's general store, part of which was converted into a ten-room hotel, served in the first New Mexico Legislature from 1912 to 1916 and spent two years in the US Army in the First World War. In 1919 he bought the 40-room Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas, for $40,000, the start of the company that became Hilton. The Dallas Hilton opened in 1925, and by the 1930s he had survived near-bankruptcy in the Great Depression. He formed Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1946 and Hilton International in 1948, and bought the Statler Hotels for $111 million in 1954. At his peak he owned 188 hotels in 38 US cities and 54 hotels abroad. His son Barron succeeded him as president in 1966, when he became chairman. He left the bulk of his estate to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which he established in 1944.

• 1912-1916 · Member, New Mexico Legislature · State of New Mexico
• World War I · Served two years in the US Army · United States Army
• 1919 · Bought the Mobley Hotel, Cisco, Texas · Founding of Hilton
• 1925 · Opened the Dallas Hilton · Hilton
• 1939 · Opened first hotel outside Texas, in Albuquerque · Hilton
• 1946 · Formed Hilton Hotels Corporation · Hilton
• 1948 · Formed Hilton International Company · Hilton
• 1954 · Acquired Statler Hotels for $111 million · Hilton
• 1966 · Became chairman as son Barron became president · Hilton

• Goss Military Academy
• St. Michael's College
• New Mexico School of Mines

• Built Hilton into a chain of 188 US hotels in 38 cities and 54 hotels abroad at its peak
• Author of Be My Guest (1958), his autobiography
• Honorary degrees from the University of Detroit (1953), DePaul (1954), Adelphi (1957), Sophia University Tokyo (1963) and the University of Albuquerque (1975)
• Established the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation in 1944 and left it the bulk of his estate

• Hilton