Chrysler’s road started in Iowa

The road that led to Chrysler Corp., the once-mighty automaker that filed for bankruptcy April 30, started in Oelwein.

Walter Chrysler, a mechanic and foreman from Kansas, developed a passion for automobiles in 1908 while working for the Chicago Great Western railroad in Oelwein.  His infatuation eventually led him to Detroit and to the founding of the company that bears his name.

Chrysler, who was superintendent of locomotive power for the CGW’s shops in Oelwein, saw his first Locomobile in Chicago while on a business trip in 1908. It was love at first sight. He borrowed $4,300 and threw in his live savings of $700 to buy the beauty.

Back in Oelwein, he spent his free time in the barn by his house, taking the car apart, examining how things worked and then putting it back together, according to Cedar Rapids Gazette archives.

Once he’d finished three reassemblies, he finally took it for a spin.  Unfortunately, he did not know how to drive it. The car ended up in a garden and had to be pulled out by horses.

Although steering proved to be a problem, the auto was a turning point in Chrysler’s life.

After a run-in with his boss over a late train, Chrysler erupted in anger and walked out. By 1912, he was in Detroit as plant manager for Buick, a General Motors division, and quickly rose to the rank of division president.  Meddling by his boss prompted him in 1920 to quit yet another job in anger.

But he did not leave with empty pockets. He reportedly had $10 million in stock by the time he left the company.

He invested that money in auto engineering and research, and in 1925 formed Chrysler Corp., serving as president.

Chrysler ran the company until 1935 and died in 1940.

In 1998, Oelwein renamed a park in honor of Chrysler and put up two plaques telling of the “barnyard beginnings” of the Chrysler automobile.

Another Chrysler in Oelwein

Walter Chrysler Jr.  was born in Oelwein in 1909. The younger Chrysler founded a Chrysler division that developed the first air-conditioning system on wheels. He also was president of the Chrysler Building. He died in 1988.