Ups founder biography

United Parcel Service (UPS), the international package delivery company, grew out of a messenger service established in Seattle in 1907 by an enterprising 19-year-old named James E. "Jim" Casey and his friend, Claude Ryan.

Beginning with two bicycles, one phone, a tiny office in the basement of a saloon, and $100 borrowed from Ryan's uncle, the two lay the foundation for what became a multi-billion dollar corporation involved in the flow of goods, funds, and information around the world.

Seattle's population had ballooned from 81,000 in 1900 to nearly 200,000 by 1907.

Few homes had telephones, and even fewer had direct communication from one to the other, because the city's two phone companies used completely separate lines. Crosstown communication often required a caller to use a public telephone to dictate a message to a messenger, who then delivered it to the recipient.

Most department stores used horse-pulled wagons to deliver merchandise. There were only a few automobiles in t