Chrysler boyhood home, 102 W. 10th St. Ellis, Kansas. Walter Percy Chrysler (April 2, 1875 – August 18, 1940) was an American automotive industry executive and founder of Chrysler Corporation, now a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Chrysler was born in Wamego, Kansas, the son of Anna Maria (née Breymann) and Henry Chrysler. He grew up in Ellis, Kansas, where today his boyhood home is a museum. Chrysler began his career as a machinist and railroad mechanic in Ellis. He took correspondence courses from International Correspondence Schools in Scranton, Pennsylvania, earning a degree from the correspondence program.Chrysler apprenticed in the railroad shops at Ellis as a machinist and railroad mechanic. He then spent a period of years roaming the west, working for various railroads as a roundhouse mechanic with a reputation of being good at valve-setting jobs. Chrysler’s automotive career began in 1911 when he received a summons to meet with James J. Storrow, a banker. Storrow asked him if he had given any thought to automobile manufacture. Chrysler had been an auto enthusiast for over five years by then, and was very interested. Storrow arranged a meeting with Charles W. Nash, then president of the Buick Motor Company, who was looking for a smart production chief. He found many ways to reduce the costs of production, such as putting an end to finishing automobile undercarriages with the same luxurious quality of finish that the body warranted. Chrysler ran Buick successfully and until he resigned from his job as president of Buick in 1919. Chrysler was paid US$10 million for his GM stock. Chrysler had started at Buick in 1911 for US$6,000 a year, and left one of the richest men in America. Chrysle acquired a controlling interest in the ailing Maxwell Motor Company. Chrysler phased out Maxwell and absorbed it into his new firm, the Chrysler Corporation, in Detroit, Michigan, in 1925. In addition to his namesake car company, Plymouth and DeSoto marques were created, and in 1928 Chrysler purchased Dodge. The same year he financed the construction of the Chrysler Building in New York City, which was completed in 1930. Chrysler was named Time magazine’s Man of the Year for 1928. Go to Domustoria.com/signup/ and get posts like this every week!
