Matthew Leander King

King was born in Panora, Iowa, the son of Anna Ross (née Caldwell) and John King.^[1] He graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Iowa State College in 1906. King was a charter member of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, a member of the American Society of Testing Materials. He became a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1912, and belonged to various aeronautical and officers' clubs. He married Lucy M. Massure, the daughter of Phoebe (Duell) and Richard Henry Lee Massure, on Jan. 1, 1901 in Redfield, Iowa. Their union produced two daughters, Harriet Marie and Helen. Through Helen, he was the maternal grandfather of actor Nick Nolte.

He spent five years as an experimentalist in agricultural engineering with the Agricultural Experiment Station of Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa, during which time he invented the hollow clay tile silo. For two years he was superintendent and general manager of the David M. Bradley Implement Works at Bradley, Illinois. He organized the Iowa Clay Products manufacturers into the Permanent Buildings Society for the development of new designs of and uses for hollow-clay building tile. King designed the Dexter Community House, which utilized the tiles in its construction.^[2]