C. L. Brown

Cleyson Leroy Brown (February 3, 1872 - November 12, 1935) was a telephone company co-founder, financier, innovator, and philanthropist in the United States. He founded Brown Telephone Company, which then became the Sprint Corporation.[1][2][3][4]

Brown, whose name was often abbreviated to C. L. Brown,[5] was a welfare capitalist and benefactor of the community of Abilene, Kansas. A pioneer in Kansas electrification and telephony, Brown consolidated and expanded many early telephone systems, power generation plants, and electrical distribution systems in Kansas and other states.[5] One of his legacy companies, United Telecommunications, merged with Southern Pacific Communications to form Sprint Corporation.[6] Parts of his social legacy endure two miles south of Abilene in the Brown Memorial Home for the Aged and in Camp Brown, the Coronado Area Council scout camp at Abilene.[5] Brown's mill/power dam on Turkey Creek is still a cornerstone of the adjoining Brown Memorial Park.[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Calling all phone fans: The Museum of Independent Telephony has your number". kansascity. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  3. ^ "Eisenhower Presidential Library". www.eisenhower.archives.gov. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  4. ^ "Cleyson Brown 2001 - School of Business | Emporia State University". www.slim.emporia.edu. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  5. ^ a b c Sondra van Meter McCoy (Summer 1982). "Patriarch of Abilene: Cleyson L. Brown and the United Empire, 1898-1935" (PDF). Kansas History. Kansas Historical Society: 107–119. Retrieved 2019-06-29. ... or C. L. Brown, as many people called him, ...
  6. ^ Sean Buckley. "Cleyson Brown, founder of Brown Telephone, the precursor to Sprint". FierceTelecom. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
  7. ^ "Brown Park Waterfall". Kansas Travel. Retrieved 2019-06-29.