John Willard Marriott — Biography

On September 17, 1900, on a small farm in Marriott, Utah, a son was born to Hyrum Willard and Ellen Morris Marriott --John Willard Marriott. A few years later, the family moved to the lower part of Marriott and bought a 100 acre farm that had been utilized for the pasturing of racehorses. Hyrum developed the land into a stock raising farm. He bought sheep and cattle in the fall and then fattened them up on pulp from the local sugar factory and corn silage from the farm. Bill, being the eldest son, played an important role in the operation of the farm. After school and on weekends, he would tend the herds, seeing that they were fed and watered.

The family also kept a herd of Hereford cattle in the nearby mountains in a range known as Snowbasin near Ogden. Bill's job was to herd these cattle until the snow became too deep for them to find feed. He then had to take them to the farm and feed them for the balance of the winter.

When Bill was fourteen, his father send him to San Francisco with a herd of sheep. Every time the freight train stopped, he had to get out of the caboose and poke the sheep because they all would jam into one end and might suffocate. While in San Francisco, Bill had the opportunity of seeing the World's Exposition and had his picture taken in his first pair of long pants.

The following year, his father again sent him out with a train load of sheep -- this time to Omaha. At that time, the railroad had a regulation that no one under eighteen years of age could ride on a freight train or caboose. When Bill reached Cheyenne, the conductor decided that he was too young, so he put him off the train. Bill had to wait and catch the next passenger train to Omaha, while his sheep traveled on without him. When he arrived in the Omaha stockyards, he found that his sheep were there, but the question was where. The sheep had been turned into the pens, mixing with other sheep. Since the Marriott sheep had mixed brands on them, it was almost impossible to determine which sheep belonged to which rancher. The only thing Bill could do was sit on the fence and pick out the biggest ones.

Bill attended school through the sixth grade in Marriott and then went on to Slaterville School, which was about 12 miles away. Upon graduation from the eighth grade, he enrolled in Weber Academy, the LDS church school in Ogden. His high school years were continuously broken up by the demands of the farm -- he often would have to stay out of school in order to herd the sheep or feed the cattle or harvest sugar beets.

He was ordained a deacon in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of twelve and then when he was fifteen he was made a priest. He participated fully in the life of the Church, teaching and sometimes teaming up with his sister to sing duets in meetings.

When Bill was eighteen he was sent on a mission to the Eastern States Mission. For two years, he served as a missionary in Vermont and Connecticut, strengthening his own convictions and extending his informal education. During this time, he and his companions formed many friendships, witnessed healings and encountered some strong opposition to the Church. At one time, they were pelted with eggs and rotten apples and then run out of town for preaching the gospel.

In 1921, Bill returned to Utah from his mission in time to enroll in Weber College. President Aaron W. Tracy of the College gave Bill responsibility for running the book store, managing the Weber Herald and getting ads for the Acorn and
the Herald. He was also elected the first president of the Weber College Student Body.

Due to financial reverses that his father suffered in 1919 and 1920, Bill found that it was necessary for him to support himself while in college. During the summers, he worked for Baron Wollen Mills, selling woolen goods, men's suits, overcoats and ladies' lingerie. Bill was so successful that he advanced to district supervisor and at one time had as many as 45 salesmen working for him. The work was hard, the hours long, but the money was good.

In 1924, he entered the University of Utah and attended the fall term. He stayed out for the next six months, going to Nevada for his father to oversee the tending of the herd there. It was a rugged winter and the only company he had were Spanish speaking Bascos and Mexicans. But the lack of companionship afforded him the opportunity to do an extensive amount of reading.

In 1925, Bill returned to the University of Utah and graduated in the spring of 1926 with an A.B..degree. That fall, he secured a position as Secretary and Treasurer of Weber College under Aaron Tracy, in addition to teaching classes in Theology and English. He also had charge of the Little Theatre that winter.

Bill Marriott was looking for an opportunity to go into business and make a success of it. He had heard of the A&W Root Beer business and contacted one of their representatives, Sidney Wilcox, about a franchise. Bill bought the rights to sell A&W root beer in the city of Washington, D. C. for $2,000.

In March of 1927, Bill Marriott arrived in Washington. He looked up two of his friends from college, Hugh Colton and Roland Parry. Hugh became interested in Bill's ad-venture and invested some of his money, thus becoming a partner in Bill's as yet untried business. Bill located a site for his first store -- 14th and Kenyon Streets, N.W. It was one half of a bake shop with only 82 feet of frontage. They put a big orange A&W barrel in the window, added a counter, root beer equipment and sawdust on the floor. Their first promotions were the distribution of free root beer tickets and the gift of free miniature glasses of root beer to babies.

As soon as the business was running smoothly, Bill returned to Utah to marry Alice Taylor Sheets. He stopped in Ogden to collect $1,200 from the Woolen company in Brigham City. The mill, however, refused to pay him and so he had to stop again in Ogden to borrow the money. He arrived an hour late for the wedding, but with money in hand for the return trip to Washington with his bride in their Model T Ford Coupe.

When they arrived in Washington, they rented a small apartment in the Boulevard Apartments on New York Avenue. After they were settled in, Alice pitched in and helped with the business. But as the warm weather waned, the root beer business declined. In order to survive, Bill and Allie turned to serving hot tamales and chili con carne and, at the suggestion of a customer, called their new store, Hot Shoppes.

The spring of 1928 saw serious discussions between Bill Marriott and his partner, Hugh Colton, as to the continuance of the business. There simply was not enough business or enough profit being generated for the two of them to remain. It was finally agreed that Bill would continue with the business. He walked across the street to the Park Savings Bank and borrowed $5,000 to buy Hugh out. Since Hugh had invested $3,000 the year before, he at least was making a profit of sorts on the business.

1928 also saw the opening of the first drive-in location for the Hot Shoppes, indeed the first one east of the Rockies. It was at Georgia Avenue and Gallatin Street and was painted bright orange with black trim. In the fall it was enclosed it with windows and served sandwiches, hot tamales and chili as at their other locations.

Despite the Stock Market crash of 1929 and the resulting Depression, Bill and Allie continued to grow and expand, adding a fourth Hot Shoppe in 1929 and building the first shoppe outside Washington, D. C. in 1932 in Baltimore. Allie temporarily retired in 1932 to add a son, J. W. Marriott, Jr., to the family. It was not long, however, before she was back working.

Bill Marriott continued at a frenetic pace to keep the various locations working smoothly. In 1933, he became desperately ill. Five doctors told him he had Hodgkin’s Disease and had but twelve months to live. He was told to get his affairs in order and then take a vacation, which is exactly what he did. Bill went to Maine and then to Virginia Beach, coming home completely rested and restored in spirits. The doctors, upon examining him a year later, could find no trace of the illness. Bill returned to work, determined to build a successful company and adding more employees to back him up.

Bill Marriott seized opportunities to further his business. In 1937, Bill Marriott, recognizing a need, provided the first meals to airlines passengers at Hoover Airport in Washington and thus began what is today the largest airline catering operation in the world.

In 1939, despite threats of war in Europe, Allie and Bill were happy with their business and their family. On January 9th, Allie gave birth to another son, Richard Edwin. During the year, Bill also became involved in many civic organizations and was elected President of the Washington Restaurant Association. The number of Hot Shoppes continued to grow and prosper.

With the advent of war, rationing was imposed, men were drafted, construction was stopped. Bill Marriott entered the cafeteria business and discontinued curb service for the duration of the war. In June of 1943, he entered yet another phase of the business -- the catering of government installations, the forerunner of the present day Business and Industry food service division of the Company.

In 1953, Marriott Hot Shoppes stock was first issued for public sale and in 1967, the name of the Company was changed to Marriott Corporation.

Through the forties and fifties the Hot Shoppes continued to prosper and expand. But there was yet another area to be developed and in 1957, Bill and Allie Marriott opened their first hotel, the Twin Bridges Marriott. Since then over forty hotels and inns have been built throughout the world, establishing the Marriott name as a byword for quality and service of exceptional standards.

In 1964, Bill Marriott, Jr., assumed the Presidency of the Company and Bill, Sr., became Chairman of the Board.

Over the past fifty years, Bill Marriott has been active socially and politically, in addition to serving his Church in innumerable positions of responsibility. Mr. Marriott has been a director of the American Motors Company, the Acacia Mutual Life Insurance Company, Riggs National Bank of Washington, D. C., and the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Washington. He holds honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah.

In 1969, President Richard Nixon selected Bill Marriott to be Chairman of the Inaugural Committee. Bill organized a staff of 3,000 to oversee the ceremonies and won plaudits for accomplishing the most successful, financially and artistically, inaugurals in recent history. With President Nixon's re-election in 1973, Bill Marriott again chaired the Inaugural.

1971 saw Bill Marriott receive awards from both the American Academy of Achievement and Religious Heritage of America.