From the Annals of Hospitality – In 1947, Hilton Hotels was incorporated in Delaware. Hilton would later become the first hotel chain listed on the New York Stock Exchange. HIlton had it humble beginnings in Texas. In 1919 Conrad Nicholson Hilton purchased the Mobley Hotel in Cisco. Hilton expanded his holdings in several ways. After his first purchase in Cisco, Hilton began leasing and renovating old hotels. After acquiring several such properties, he began building new hotels in Texas on property he ground leased. Then he moved on to buying existing, low performing hotels at bargain prices. Hilton opened a new hotel in Texas every year between 1925 and 1930 eventually owning 8. He managed to survive the Depression even though he was close to bankruptcy in1931. But the troubled times forced him to look to outside investors. Shearn and William L. Moody, Jr., of Galveston were the primary source of new capital and HIlton merged his hotels with the Moodys’ operations to form the National Hotel Company. The merger was unsuccessful and in 1934 Hilton resumed his independent operation with five hotels. In 1938 he acquired the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, his first hotel outside of Texas. Hilton later established his corporate headquarters in Beverly Hills. Ultimately, Conrad Hilton owned 188 hotels in 38 United States cities, including the Shamrock in Houston, the Mayflower in Washington, the Palmer House in Chicago, and the Plaza and Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and another 54 hotels in foreign countries. He also endowed the University of Houston which named the Conrad Hilton School of Hotel and Restaurant Management after him. His archives are located at the University Hilton on the UH Campus.
Red vowed to never stay at another Hilton Hotel after they tore down the Shamrock. For those who never stayed at the Shamrock, it was a glorious place and Red spent many a lazy Saturday afternoon at the enormous pool sipping a libation with friends and planning that evening’s dinner and trip to the Astrodome.
