What does the Chrysler Building and the Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad Yard in Childress, TX have in common. In turns out that Walter P. Chrysler, the founder of Chrysler Motors Company, actually was the foreman for the Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad roundhouse in Childress, TX. And, he later built the Chrylser Building in NYC. Chrysler began his transportation career as an apprentice in the railroad shops at Ellis, Kansas 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. Some of his moves were due to restlessness and a too-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, superintendent, division master mechanic, and general master mechanic. From 1905-1906, Chrysler worked in west Texas for the Fort Worth and Denver Railway in Childress, TX. Chryslers automotive career began in 1911 when he received a summons to meet with James J. Storrow, a banker who was a director of ALCO and also an executive at General Motors. 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 hired Crysler as production chief. When he departed General Motors in 1920, Walter P. Chrysler had been vice-president of General Motors in charge of operations and president of their Buick division. Five years later he had bought out the Maxwell Automobile Corporation and reorganized it into the Chrysler Corporation. In 1927 he bought the much larger rival Dodge Brothers Company and renamed it the Dodge Division of Chrysler. Heady from that success, Walter P.Chrysler teamed up with architect William Van Alen for the design and construction of an office skyscraper. Van Alen was essentially given a blank check to come up with a design to fit the car magnates ambition. The Chrysler Building – 405 Lexington Avenue at 42nd Street – was built in 1928-1930 by Walter P. Chrysler. Its design was a 77-story tall triumph of Art Deco, and it was one of the first skyscrapers to make a major use of metal in its construction and adornment. Many consider it the most important Art Deco building in the world. What would he have built in Childress had he stayed there?
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 19:43:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015