Karl Hoblitzelle

Karl Hoblitzelle (October 22, 1879 – March 8, 1967) was an American theater owner, real estate investor, and philanthropist. He was the co-founder of the Interstate Theaters Company, a chain of vaudeville theaters (later movie theaters), now a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. He was the first theater owner to add air conditioning to movie theaters in the United States, and the first to add sound in the Southwest. He also helped support the construction of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Early life Karl Hoblitzelle was born on October 22, 1879, in St. Louis, Missouri. His father, Clarence Linden Hoblitzelle, was a veteran of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. His mother was Ida Adelaide Knapp. His maternal grandfather, Colonel George Knapp, was the founder of the Missouri Gazette, later known as the Missouri Republican and finally the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. He eventually had nine brothers and three sisters. Hoblitzelle was of Swiss, Austrian and English descent on his paternal side and of Irish, English and French descent on his maternal side. His ancestors were settlers who fought in the American Revolutionary War. His paternal great-grandfather, Samuel Ogle was the Governor of Maryland. Hoblitzelle graduated from high school in St. Louis, but his parents could not afford to send him to college.