Atlas corporation was formed in 1928, in 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 $12,550,000
investment trust. The company was able to shrewdly weather the
Wall Street crash of 1929, 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, including
Greyhound Lines,
Bonwit Teller (acquired 1934) and
Franklin Simon & Co. (acquired 1936) ladies' apparel stores,
Madison Square Garden, and various mines, utility companies, aviation related businesses, and banks. 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. Atlas acquired aircraft manufacturer and budding aerospace contractor Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (later
Convair) from
AVCO in 1947. The
Atlas Missile program gained the name of the Atlas Corporation in 1951, which went on to become both America’s first
ICBM and used in the
Mercury missions to send astronauts into orbit. In 1948,
Howard Hughes acquired controlling interest in
RKO Pictures from Atlas. Today, the company has ownership in natural resources investments. ==References==