Leading the Way: Famous Kansans

The family with 12 children was spending so much money on groceries that J. S. Dillon started purchasing food wholesale. To do so Dillon had to open a grocery store. He put up shelves along one side of his repair shop in Sterling and assigned two of the Dillon boys to take care of the grocery business. J. S. Dillon insisted on operating on a cash and carry basis in the early 1900s, starting a trend now common in retail sales. In the 1940s another Dillon innovation was introduced. Instead of having clerks fill grocery orders, customers would push a cart through the store to make their own selections. The Dillon stores became the first self-service supermarkets.

The brilliant white light produced by gas lamps impressed William Coleman. He found gas lamps to be a profitable venture only after he redesigned the lamps and devised a plan to rent and service the lamps himself. Coleman's first successful business venture with lamps was the Hydro-Carbon Light Company in Wichita. Coleman turned inventor to refine his lamps, producing the first instant-light gasoline lamp. Coleman lamps, stoves, coolers, and other products have been used by thousands of American soldiers, farmers, campers, and emergency workers.

Walter Chrysler was born in Wamego but grew up in Ellis. He purchased his first automobile not to drive, but to take apart and put back together again. Chrysler trained as a master mechanic with the Union Pacific Railroad and shifted his focus to automobiles in 1912. Within a year after his departure from General Motors Chrysler returned to the automobile business and took on the ailing Maxwell Motor Car Company. His vision was to develop a line of high-styled automobiles priced for people with medium incomes. In 1925 Maxwell Motor Car Company took the name of its president and became the Chrysler Corporation. When Walter Chrysler finally retired, his company was one of the three top automobile companies in the country.

At 14 Walter H. Beech first tried his hand at constructing an aircraft of his own design. He gathered the needed materials for the glider, including his mother's new bed sheets! His first attempt was a failure, but that did not deter Beech from aviation. During World War I he trained as an Army Air Corps pilot and served as an instructor and engineer. In 1921 Beech came to Wichita to build biplanes in the fledgling aircraft industry that produced small, private aircraft for a growing market of pilots. Later Beech struck out on his own to develop Travel Air Manufacturing Company, the world's largest producer of commercial aircraft in 1929. Ever interested in aircraft design and production, Beech and his wife, Olive Ann, co-founded Beech Aircraft Company. Olive Ann focused her efforts on the financial side of the company while her husband designed the aircraft. Following her husband's death in 1950, Beech assumed control of the company.