Walter Chrysler | |
|---|---|
 Chrysler in 1937 | |
| Born | Walter Percy Chrysler (1875-04-02)April 2, 1875 Wamego, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | August 18, 1940(1940-08-18) (aged 65) Kings Point, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Sleepy Hollow Cemetery |
| Alma mater | International Correspondence Schools in Scranton, PA (presently Penn Foster Education) |
| Occupation(s) | Machinist,manager,entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder of theChrysler Corporation |
| Board member of | Chrysler Corporation |
| Spouse | Della Viola Forker (died 1938 at age 58) |
| Children | Thelma Irene Chrysler Bernice Chrysler Walter Percy Chrysler Jr. John Forker Chrysler |
| Relatives | Edgar Garbisch (son-in-law) |
Walter Percy Chrysler (April 2, 1875 – August 18, 1940) was an American industrial pioneer in the automotive industry,automotive industry executive, and the founder and namesake of AmericanChrysler Corporation.
Chrysler was born inWamego, Kansas, the son of Anna Maria Chrysler (née Breymann) and Henry Chrysler.[1] He grew up inEllis, Kansas, where today his boyhood home is a museum. His father was born inChatham, Ontario, in 1850 and immigrated to the United States after 1858.[2] AFreemason,[3] Chrysler began his career as amachinist andrailroadmechanic in Ellis. He took correspondence courses fromInternational Correspondence Schools inScranton, Pennsylvania, earning a mechanical degree from the correspondence program.
Walter Chrysler's father, Henry (Hank) Chrysler, was a Canadian, of German, English and Dutch ancestry. He was anAmerican Civil War veteran who was alocomotive engineer for theKansas Pacific Railway and its successor, theUnion Pacific Railroad.[4] Walter's mother was born inRocheport, Missouri, and was also ofGerman ancestry.[5] Walter Chrysler was not especially interested in his remote ancestors; his collaborative author Boyden Sparkes says that one genealogical researcher reported "that he had a sea-goingDutchman among his forebears; one Captain Jan Gerritsen Van Dalsen", but that "as to that, Walter Chrysler made it plain to me he was in accord withJimmy Durante: 'Ancestors? I got millions of 'em!'."[6] However, he thought enough of genealogy to include in his autobiography that his father, Hank Chrysler, "Canadian born, had been brought fromChatham, Ontario, to Kansas City when he was only five or six. His forebears had founded Chatham; the family stock wasGerman; eight generations back of me there had come to America one who spelled his name Greisler, aGerman Palatine. He was one of a group ofProtestants who had left their German homeland in theRhine Valley, gone to theNetherlands, thence to England and embarked, finally, fromPlymouth for New York."
Other researchers have since traced his ancestors in more detail. Karin Holl's monograph on the subject[7] traces the family tree to a Johann Philipp Kreißler, born in 1672, who left Germany for Canada in 1709. Chrysler's ancestors came from theRhineland-Palatinate town ofGuntersblum. His family belongs toOld Stock Americans.[citation needed]
Chrysler apprenticed in the railroad shops at Ellis as amachinist and railroad mechanic. He then spent a period of years roaming the west, working for various railroads as aroundhouse mechanic with a reputation of being good atvalve-setting jobs. Chrysler moved frequently, first toWellington, Kansas, in 1897, then toDenver, Colorado for two weeks, and finallyCheyenne, Wyoming.[8] Some of his moves were due to restlessness and a quick temper, but his roaming was also a way to become more well-rounded in his railroad knowledge. He worked his way up through positions such as foreman inTrinidad, Colorado, superintendent, division master mechanic, and general master mechanic.
During 1905 and 1906, Chrysler worked for theFort Worth and Denver Railway inChildress inWest Texas. He later lived and worked inOelwein, Iowa, at the main shops of theChicago Great Western, where there is a small park dedicated to him.[9][10]
The pinnacle of his railroading career came atPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he became works manager of the Allegheny locomotive erecting shops of theAmerican Locomotive Company (Alco). While working in Pittsburgh, Chrysler lived in the town ofBellevue, the first town outside of Pittsburgh on the north side of theOhio River.
Chrysler's automotive career began in 1911 when he received a summons to meet withJames J. Storrow, a banker who was a director ofAlco. 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 withCharles W. Nash, then president of theBuick Motor Company, who was looking for a smart production chief. Chrysler, who had resigned from many railroading jobs over the years, made his final resignation from railroading to become works manager (in charge of production) at Buick inFlint, Michigan.[11] 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.
In 1916,William C. Durant, who foundedGeneral Motors in 1908, had retaken GM from bankers who had taken over the company. Chrysler, who was closely tied to the bankers, submitted his resignation to Durant, then based in New York City.
Durant took the first train to Flint to make an attempt to keep Chrysler at the helm of Buick. Durant made the then-unheard of salary offer of $10,000 (equivalent to $288,960 in 2024)[12] a month for three years, with a $500,000 (equivalent to $14.4 million in 2024)[12] bonus at the end of each year, or $500,000 (equivalent to $14.4 million in 2024)[12] in stock. Additionally, Chrysler would report directly to Durant, and would have full run of Buick without interference from anyone. Apparently in shock, Chrysler asked Durant to repeat the offer, which he did. Chrysler immediately accepted.
Chrysler ran Buick successfully for three more years. Not long after his three-year contract was up, he resigned from his job as president of Buick in 1919. He did not agree with Durant's vision for the future of General Motors. Durant paid Chrysler $10 million (equivalent to $181 million in 2024)[12] for his GM stock. Chrysler had started at Buick in 1911 for $6,000 a year (equivalent to $202,479 in 2024),[12] and left one of the richest men in the United States. GM replaced Chrysler withHarry H. Bassett a protege who had risen through the ranks at the Weston-Mott axle manufacturing company, by then a subsidiary ofBuick.
Chrysler was then hired to attempt a turnaround by bankers who foresaw the loss of their investment inWillys-Overland Motor Company inToledo, Ohio. He demanded and received a salary of $1 million (equivalent to $18.1 million in 2024)[12] a year for two years, an astonishing amount at that time. When Chrysler left Willys in 1921 after an unsuccessful attempt to wrestle control fromJohn Willys, he acquired a controlling interest in the ailingMaxwell Motor Company. Chrysler phased out Maxwell and absorbed it into his new firm, theChrysler Corporation, inDetroit, Michigan, in 1925. In addition to his namesake car company,Plymouth andDeSotomarques were created, and in 1928 Chrysler purchased Dodge Brothers and renamed itDodge. The same year he financed the construction of theChrysler Building inNew York City, which was completed in 1930. Chrysler was namedTime magazine'sMan of the Year for 1928.[13]
He was inducted into theAutomotive Hall of Fame in 1967.[14]
In 1923, Chrysler purchased fromHenri Willis Bendel a twelve-acre (5 ha) waterfront estate atKings Point onLong Island,New York,[15] and renamed it Forker House. In December 1941, the property was sold to the U.S. government's War Shipping Department and became known as Wiley Hall as part of theUnited States Merchant Marine Academy.[16]
Chrysler also built a country estate inWarrenton, Virginia, in what is referred to as theVirginia horse country and home to the Warrenton Hunt. In 1934, he purchased and undertook a major restoration of theFauquier White Sulphur Springs Company resort and spa in Warrenton. Sold in 1953, the property was developed as a country club.
Chrysler turned 61 in the spring of 1936 and stepped down from an active role in the day-to-day business of the company. Two years later, his wife died at the age of 58 and Chrysler, devastated by the loss of his childhood sweetheart, suffered astroke. His previously robust health never recovered from this, and he died of acerebral hemorrhage in August 1940 at Forker House in Kings Point, New York. He was buried atSleepy Hollow Cemetery inSleepy Hollow, New York.[17]
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