Richard F. Brown, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 925-926 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				RICHARD F. BROWN, M. D. 

	Dr. Richard F. Brown, president of the Brown Drug Company of 
Sioux Falls and thus active in the management of one of the more 
important and extensive commercial enterprises of the northwest, was 
born in Seneca, Ohio, on the 9th of March, 1858, a son of Abram G. and 
Lucretia (Gray) Brown. In the public schools of Ohio he pursued his 
education, and in 1879, when a young man of twenty-one years, entered 
the Starling Medical College at Columbus, that state. Upon his 
graduation with the class of 1882 he won his professional degree and in 
February of that year made his way westward to Dakota, settling at 
Plankinton, where he was successfully engaged in the general practice 
of medicine and surgery until 1891. He then removed to Sioux Falls and 
engaged in the retail drug business. In 1901 the wholesale drug house 
conducted under the name of the Brown Drug Company was organized with 
Dr. Brown as the president. The business mete with splendid success and 
was developed along progressive lines, becoming the largest wholesale 
drug business in the state and one of the most important in the west. 
In May, 1913, their establishment was entirely destroyed by fire, but 
immediately a new structure was begun with the result that their 
present fireproof building is not only one of the city's finest 
commercial blocks, but is undoubtedly the finest building in point of 
modern equipment devoted to the wholesale drug trade in the west. Dr. 
Brown has demonstrated the fact that he possesses the unusual 
combination of successful medical practice with ability to manage with 
equal success important and extensive commercial interests. 

	In 1884 occurred the marriage of Dr. Richard F. Brown and Miss 
Minnesota Cook, who died December 8, 1893, leaving two children, Mary 
R. and Rush A. Dr. Brown is a republican in his political views. He is 
in hearty sympathy with the teachings and tenets of Masonry and has 
attained the Knight Templar degree of the York Rite. He also has 
membership with the Elks and is a member of the Minnehaha County 
Country Club, the Dacotah Club and the Commercial Club. He enjoys 
shooting, fishing, golf, motoring and all manly athletics and outdoor 
sports and his record proves the truth of the statement that almost 
equally important to working well is the ability to play well, thus 
maintaining an even balance in the physical and mental development.