Conrad N. Hilton started in the hotel business in Texas during the late 1910s. In 1945, when it became the Hilton Hotels Corp., his company bought two large Chicago luxury properties: the Palmer House and the Stevens Hotel (which became the Conrad Hilton). Together, the two Chicago hotels had about 5,300 rooms and employed 4,500 men and women. Headquartered in Chicago, the new company started as a chain of nine large luxury hotels; by the early 1960s, it had about $230 million in annual revenues from 43 hotels around the world employing roughly 30,000 people. Hilton moved its general offices from Chicago during the 1970s, when the company became associated with TWA Airlines. At the end of the 1990s, Hilton, based in California, still owned luxury hotels in downtown Chicago.

This entry is part of the Encyclopedia's Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000) that was prepared by Mark R. Wilson, with additional contributions from Stephen R. Porter and Janice L. Reiff.