Conrad Hilton: Founder of Hilton Hotels
Business Owner · Hospitality & Travel
Conrad Hilton bought his first hotel in Cisco, Texas, in 1919 for $40,000 and built the world's first international hotel chain. He left most of his estate to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
About Conrad Hilton: Founder of Hilton Hotels
Conrad Nicholson Hilton (December 25, 1887 to January 3, 1979) was an American hotel magnate and politician who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. In 1919 he bought his first hotel, the Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas, for US$40,000 and capitalized on the oil boom by renting rooms out in eight-hour shifts. He kept buying and selling hotels and eventually established the world's first international hotel chain. When he died in 1979 he left the bulk of his estate to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Hilton was born in San Antonio, Socorro County, in the New Mexico territory, to Norwegian-born Augustus Halvorsen Hilton and Mary Genevieve Laufersweiler, a devout Catholic of German descent. He attended the Goss Military Academy, St. Michael's College and the New Mexico School of Mines. From 1912 to 1916 he was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature, when the state was newly formed. Frustrated with the "bureaucracy, slowness, cheating, lying, and inside deals of politics", he refused in 1916 to run for a fourth term and turned to business, which led to the hotel purchase in Cisco. Sources: English Wikipedia (Conrad Hilton, accessed September 2026).
Basic Information
Founder, Hilton Hotels (1887-1979)
Company Details
Hilton Hotels
Hotels, Hospitality
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