- Atlas Corporation
The Atlas Corporation, was formed in 1928, from a merger of the United Corporation, an investment firm started in 1923 with $40,000, with Atlas Utilities and Investors Ltd. The corporation specialized in capital formation and management. In 1929, Atlas was a $12,000,000 investment trust. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,885869,00.html "Odlum Makes a Deal," "TIME Magazine", Apr 1, 1940 (retrieved Sep 1, 2008)] .] The company was able to shrewdly weather the stock market crash and continue to grow through the 1930s and 1940s. The corporation was founded by
Floyd Odlum and his brother-in-law Boyd Hatch.
With Floyd Odlum as president and Boyd Hatch as vice-president, Atlas invested, managed or controlled numerous industries, includingGreyhound Lines ,RKO , and Paramount motion picture studios, the Hilton hotel chain, theBonwit Teller (acquired 1934) andFranklin Simon & Co. (acquired 1936) ladies’ apparel stores,Madison Square Garden , and various mines, utility companies, aviation related businesses, and banks. [ [http://history.utah.gov/board_of_state_history/documents/NR0607B.pdf] National Register of Historic Places description of Hatch’s Camp, Logan Canyon, Cache County, UT (Sec. 8, p. 3-4) (retrieved Sep 1, 2008).] [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935179,00.html "Odlum's Busy Week," "TIME Magazine", Jun 14, 1954 (retrieved Sep 1, 2008)] .] [Pattillo, Donald M. (2001) "Pushing the Envelope: The American Aircraft Industry", (University of Michigan Press), ISBN 0472108697.] After Atlas Corporation acquired the Bonwit Teller ladies’ apparel stores, Floyd Odlum convinced his wife,Hortense Odlum , to become involved in the store’s operations. She became the first female president of a major department store chain when she became president of Bonwit Teller in 1934. [Odlum, Hortense McQuarrie, (1980) "a woman's place: The autobiography of Hortense Odlum", Ayer Publishing, ISBN 9780405128509.] [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848657,00.html "Storekeeping Atlas," "TIME Magazine", Oct. 12, 1936 (retrieved Sep 1, 2008)] .] [ [http://aolsvc.timeforkids.kol.aol.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847205,00.html "Lady from Atlas," "TIME Magazine", Oct. 22, 1934 (retrieved Sep 1, 2008)] .] In 1948,Howard Hughes acquired controlling interest in RKO from Atlas. [Barlett, Donald L. and James B. Steele, (2004) "Howard Hughes: His Life & Madness", W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 9780393326024.] The Atlas Missile program was named after the Atlas Corporation, the contractor through its Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, (laterConvair ) subsidiary, which was used in the Apollo missions to send astronauts to the moon.References
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