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GLENN L. MARTIN

Pioneer West Coast Aviator - Plane Manufacturer

Glenn L. Martin was born at Macksburg, Iowa, on January 17, 1886, the son [[strikethrough]] e [[/strikethrough]] of a hardware dealer. At age two his parents moved to Liberal, Kansas. His mother had been a school teacher and she tutored him before he was of school age. He displayed an early business instinct when he began building and selling kites to his neighborhood playmates.

In 1894 the family moved to Salina, Kansas, where his father became a traveling salesman for a hardware and implement manufacturer. Martin attended grade and high schools there and developed an increasing interest in mechanical things. During his second year in high school he had a spare-time job in a bicycle shop; he later worked for an automobile agency where he soon became an expert driver and the best troubleshooter in town. After graduating from high school in 1903 he enrolled for a two-year business course at Kansas Wesleyan University.

In 1905 the family moved to California and settled in Santa Ana where Martin got a job in a garage. He saved his money and later opened a garage of his own, then obtained the agency for Ford and Maxwell automobiles. His father became an automobile salesman and a mechanic, Roy Beall, was hired to help in the garage. The business prospered and Martin was soon making money.

At that time he was also becoming very interested in aviation and was carefully studying every bit of information he could find concerning it. In 1907 he decided to try to build an airplane and disclosed his plans to Roy Beall, who was not impressed. After further persuasion Martin coaxed Beall into helping make the parts for a monoplane, with a Ford automobile engine, in the Martin garage during spare time. While this work was in progress another local mechanic, Charles Day, also joined them to help with the project. 

The machine was finished in late 1907 and taken to a pasture lot outside