Unlocking History

Conrad Hilton Conrad Hilton bought his first hotel in Texas in 1919. The ongoing oil boom in the state ensured fully booked rooms. He went on to build the high-rise Dallas Hilton in 1925, and followed with three more Hiltons in Texas over the course of the next five years. He  expanded to become the world's first international hotel chain.  Barron Hilton In 1966, his second son, Barron, replaced him as president of Hilton Hotels.  Barron contested his father's will after his death. A settlement was reached, leaving Barron with 4 million shares of the enterprise, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation with 3.5 million shares, and the W. Barron Hilton Charitable Remainder Unitrust with 6 million shares. The mission of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is to "relieve the suffering, the distressed, and the destitute".  Equal to any one of the six Nobel Prizes, at $1.5 million, the annual Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize is the biggest humanitaria...

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480–1521) was born in Portugal.   In 1505, Magellan participated in several expeditions in India and Africa and was wounded in several battles which  left him with a limp for the rest of his life. THE AMBITION King Charles I Magellan was exposed to stories of the great Portuguese and Spanish rivalry for sea exploration and dominance over the spice trade in the East Indies, especially the Spice Islands, in modern Indonesia. Europeans had reached the Spice Islands by sailing east, but none had yet to sail west from Europe to reach the other side of the globe. Magellan was determined to be the first to do so. He approached King Manuel of Portugal to seek his support for a westward voyage to the Spice Islands. The king refused his petition repeatedly.  In 1517 a frustrated Magellan renounced his Portuguese nationality and relocated to Spain to seek royal support for his venture. The grandson of King Ferdina...

By 1900, Buffalo was the 8th largest city in the United States,   and  the Black American population of Buffalo had risen to 100,000, yet only two hundred units of new housing had been built. They were essentially stuffed into the small east side area. The disturbances began on the West Side on the evening of Monday, June 26, when a police attempt to break up a fight, escalated into a confrontation between a crowd of hundred increasingly agitated onlookers and the police.  The next afternoon, riots rocked the East side of Buffalo.  Groups of angry residents took to the streets.   They stopped traffic, set fires, stoned cars, broke store windows, looted  neighborhood  establishments, assaulted local merchants, and pelted responding police officers.  In one night (June 28th) of violence over 40 people were hurt and 14 suffered gunshot wounds. Buffalo police made 21 arrests. For the rest of the week, arson, vandalism, looting,...

Henry Wells Henry Wells was born in 1805 in Thetford, Vermont. As a child, Henry worked on a farm and attended school in Fayette. In 1836, Wells became a freight agent on the Erie Canal.    In 1841 the firm of Pomeroy & Company was formed by George E. Pomeroy, Henry Wells and Crawford Livingston. They competed with the United States Post Office by carrying mail at less than the government rate. The government itself was compelled to reduce its rates twice in 1845 and 1851.   William George Fargo William George Fargo was born in Pompey, New York. From the age of thirteen he supported himself for schooling by working as a clerk in grocery stores. He became a freight agent for the Auburn & Syracuse railway company in 1841.   On April 1, 1845, Wells & Company's Western Express was established by Wells, Fargo and Daniel Dunning. Service was offered at first as far as Detroit, rapidly expanding to Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. In 1...