Founded in 1919 by Conrad Hilton. Hilton bought his first property, the Mobley Hotel, in 1919 in Cisco, Texas.[9]
The first hotel to bear the Hilton name was the Dallas Hilton, a high-rise that opened in Dallas, Texas in 1925.[10]
In 1954, at the Caribe Hilton Hotel's Beachcomber Bar in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ramon "Monchito" Marrero reportedly created the Piña Colada.[11]
The Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago figured prominently in the 1968 Democratic Convention riots that occurred across the street in Grant Park. The hotel's doors were locked for the first time in its history. The hotel still suffered minor damage as a result of the violence outside as a couple of the street level windows gave way under the weight of dozens of protesters on the street being pushed up against the windows during the ensuing police riot.