Walter P. Chrysler Boyhood Home

The Walter P. Chrysler Boyhood Home is located in rural Ellis, Kansas. The Chrysler name would become synonymous with automobiles. But first, the boy behind the name had to become the man who embodies the American Dream.

Walter Percy Chrysler was born on April 2, 1875, in Wamego, Kansas. When he was a toddler, his family moved to Ellis, Kansas, where his father, Henry, was a railroad engineer. When he arrived, Walter Chrysler grew up in Ellis, with a population of fewer than 1,000.

Following his father’s footsteps, Chrysler became a machinist’s apprentice for the Union Pacific Railroad. At the age of 22, he completed his apprenticeship and left Ellis. For more than a decade, he traveled the country in the railroad industry, from Texas to Pennsylvania. This experience in manufacturing railroad locomotives ultimately led him to the automobile industry in 1911. From there, he never looked back.

“The reason so many people never get anywhere in life is because when opportunity knocks, they are out in the backyard looking for four-leaf clovers.”

-Walter P. Chrysler

The home becomes a museum.

Chryler’s parents lived in the home until 1913. After decades of neglect, the house fell into disrepair. Then, in the early 1950s, the owner of the local Dodge Plymouth dealership rescued it. In 1955, the Chrysler Corporation later purchased the home, and Walter’s son Jack presented the deed to the city of Ellis to establish a museum and home tours. Today, the museum collection includes various interesting items, including an incredible-condition 1924 Chrysler car.

You can visit the home where it started, just off Interstate 70 in the small town of Ellis, Kansas. We visited on a summer afternoon on a road trip from Pennslyvania to California. The home was not open, but it was still fun to check out the grounds. I could not help but wonder how much Ellis had changed since Chrysler was here. I’m sure some, but I bet he would recognize much of it. We only spent about 20 minutes there reading signs and snapping a few pictures, but I enjoyed the stop and would visit the Walter P. Chrysler Boyhood Home again the next time our travels take us through Kansas on I-70.