Brown's Business College was a chain of business colleges located in the Midwestern United States, started in Illinois in the 1870s by George W. Brown (1845-1918) of Jacksonville, Illinois.[1][2] He grew the chain to at least 29 locations during the 1910s (though perhaps not all existed simultaneously). Though most of the colleges had closed or changed names by the 1960s, at least one location continued under the same name into the early 1990s.
Brown joined the faculty of the Jacksonville Business College in 1867, a year after it was founded by Rufus C. CramptonofIllinois College. Around 1876, Brown took over the school and renamed it. By 1889, he had acquired schools in Peoria and Decatur, and by 1894 also had locations in Ottawa, Galesburg, Bloomington, and Centralia, for a total of seven locations.[3] A description of the schools from 1898 states that they provided instruction in "Accounting, Business and Office Practice, Writing, Expert Accounting, What is Required of Stenographers, and the Elements of Success in Business."[4]
By 1907, there were 19 Brown's in existence.[5] At least 29 schools were open at the chain's zenith.[6][7]
Brown died in 1918, but the chain continued. Some locations continued under that name into the 1960s and 1970s, and the location in Springfield was open until 1994. Some of the colleges, through successors, still exist today, including Midstate College in Peoria and Rockford Career College in Rockford. The Sanford–Brown group of colleges or "institutes" also traces their history through a St. Louis location of Brown's.[8]
Locations of Brown's included the following non-exhaustive list:
Brown is a common surname, and there were other institutions called "Brown's Business College" that were not affiliated with George W. Brown's chain.
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