Napoleon Bonaparte Brown

Napoleon Bonaparte Brown (1834 – March 18, 1910) was a soldier, businessman, politician, and resident of Kansas and Missouri in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[2] He is most known as the namesake and builder of the Brown Grand Theatre in Concordia, Kansas, a majestic opera house completed in 1907 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The theatre has been called "the most elegant theater between Kansas City and Denver."[2]

Napoleon Bonaparte Brown
Napoleon Bonaparte Brown
Born1834[1]
Illinois
Died(1910-03-18)March 18, 1910
St Joseph, Missouri, United States
OccupationBusinessman

Early life

Brown was named after Napoleon Bonaparte by his parents James & Nancy Brown. The 1850 Pike County, Illinois census gives his age as 16 at that time. A later census (1900) in Concordia, KS gives his birthdate as Oct 1833.[3] He appeared to have two siblings: a brother, Benjamin age 14; and a sister named May or Mary aged 11 listed in the census as well.[4] Later military records list his hometown as Concord, Illinois in neighboring Morgan County.[5] until he resigned on January 17, 1865[6]

Military career

"Colonel" Brown enlisted in the 101st Illinois Infantry on January 3, 1864 and given the rank of major. Major Brown served in "B" Company[5] until he resigned on January 17, 1865[6]—the very day the 101st crossed into South Carolina from Georgia under General William Tecumseh Sherman.[5] Cloud county records show that he was paid the pension ($25.00) of a major.[7] After he retired from the military, he "promoted himself" to the rank of colonel.[8]

In a letter to the editor of the Kansas Blade (now the Concordia Blade-Empire), Brown claimed that he enlisted as a private on April 22, 1862, and was subsequently promoted to captain, major, and brevet lieutenant colonel.[9]

Business and philanthropy
Main article: Brown Grand Theatre

"Colonel" Brown served in the state legislatures for both Kansas and Missouri[8] and was a prominent banker in Kansas during its early years of development as the owner of the first bank in Cloud County, Kansas.[10] N. B. Brown & Co., founded in 1878[11] with a rumored "suitcase full of money" that he had with him upon his arrival.[8] Colonel Brown and his wife Katherine (Katie) then built Brownstone Hall,[12] a 23-room Victorian-style 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) stone mansion built in Concordia in 1883.[13] Colonel Brown served first in the Missouri House of Representatives,[14] and then in the Kansas State Senate.[15]

In 1905, Colonel Brown commissioned the building of the Brown Grand Theatre and entrusted its completion to his son, Earl Van Dom Brown. The theatre was completed in 1907.[16]

Politics

As a state Senator in Kansas, Brown fought a losing battle to restore Concordia Normal School as a state-run institution. The school was one of several Normal schools placed throughout the state in 1874 under governor Thomas A. Osborn, but was consolidated by the state legislature in 1876.[17] The state normal school would later become Emporia State University.

  • Brown Grand Theatre in Concordia
  • Brownstone Manor, home of Napoleon Bonaparte Brown in Concordia

References
  1. 1850 Pike County, Illinois census at the age of 16-son of James & Nancy Brown
  2. Moran, Jerry. "Historic Performing Theatre – The Brown Grand Theatre". The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  3. 1900 Cloud County, Kansas Census
  4. 1850 Pike County, Illinois Census
  5. "The One Hundred-First Illinois". Jacksonville Daily Journal. Jacksonville, Illinois via Illinois in the Civil War. May 30, 1909. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  6. "Roster of Field and Staff 101st Illinois Infantry". rootsweb.com. Archived from the original on January 6, 2005. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  7. "Cloud County KS GenWeb". Blue Skyways at the Kansas State Library. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  8. "History of the Brown Grand Theatre in Concordia, Kansas". Brown Grand Theater. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  9. Concordia Blade-Empire "NB Brown's War Record-His slanderers Laid on Stretchers", June 2, 1882
  10. Inside Cloud Archived January 5, 2013, at Archive.today "Happy 100th Birthday Brown Grand Theatre" by Jenny Acree, September 21, 2007
  11. Cutler, William G. (1883). History of the State of Kansas: Cloud County. Chicago, IL: A. T. Andreas. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  12. "Kansas Historical Notes". Kansas History off the Press. Kansas State Historical Society. 43 (1): 112–120. Summer 1977. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  13. Hatteberg, Larry (November 9, 2003). "Hatteberg's People: Caroline Gocke". KAKE. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  14. http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/historicallistings/molegb.asp
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. The Emporia Gazette Archived January 2, 2013, at Archive.today "The Brown Grand Theater" February 23, 2009
  17. Biographical history of Cloud County, Kansas "State Normal School" by E.F. Hollibaugh, 1903
  • Bell, Rachel Lowrey (1998a). A Proud Past... A Pictorial History of Concordia, Kansas, Marceline, Missouri: D-Books Publishing.
  • Emery, Janet Pease (1970a). It Takes People to Make a Town, Salina, Kansas: Arrow Printing Company. Library of Congress number 75-135688.
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