Conrad Hilton Nearly Lost Everything in the Depression — and, by Some Accounts, Borrowed From a Bellboy

Conrad Nicholson Hilton, born on Christmas Day 1887 in San Antonio, New Mexico Territory, travelled to Cisco, Texas during the 1919 oil boom intending to purchase a bank. When that deal collapsed, he bought the Mobley Hotel instead — reportedly because its rooms changed hands as often as three times a day.

Nearly Losing Everything Before Building Anything

The venture nearly ended during the Great Depression, when Hilton’s hotels faced collapse alongside failing banks across the country. A widely repeated story says he borrowed money from one of his own bellboys at his lowest point, though retellings differ on the amount and the anecdote is not documented in a primary source. He did not walk away. As the economy recovered and the Second World War ended, Hilton turned to international expansion, as growing air travel opened up international business and tourism.

In 1946, he formally established Hilton Hotels Corporation, which soon became the first hotel company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Hilton International was formed as a subsidiary in 1948, and in 1949 the Caribe Hilton opened in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the company’s first hotel outside the continental United States. The company then expanded steadily, opening its first European hotel in Madrid in 1953.

A Legacy That Outgrew The Hotels

Hilton gave up active management of his company in 1966, when his son Barron succeeded him as president, and died in 1979. In 1944, decades before his death, he had already established the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, directing it in his will toward relieving suffering and supporting causes with no restriction by religion, race or territory. Since its founding, the Foundation has awarded more than $4 billion in grants, including nearly $353 million in 2025 alone.

Key Insights

• Conrad Hilton bought his first hotel in Cisco, Texas in 1919, after an intended bank purchase fell through.
• His hotel business nearly collapsed during the Great Depression before recovering.
• Hilton Hotels Corporation was established in 1946; its first hotel outside the continental United States, the Caribe Hilton in Puerto Rico, opened in 1949.
• The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, established in 1944, has awarded more than $4 billion in grants to date.