Napoleon Bonaparte Brown (1834 – March 18, 1910) was a soldier, businessman, philanthropist, politician, and resident of Kansas and Missouri in the late 1800s and early 1900s.[1] 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."[1]
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.[2] 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.[3] Later military records list his hometown as Concord, Illinois in neighboring Morgan County.[4] until he resigned on January 17, 1865[5]
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.[6]
As a state Senator in Kansas, Brown fought a losing battle to restore the State Normal School's location to Concordia. 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.[7] The state normal school would later become Emporia State University.
- ^ a b Moran, Jerry. "Historic Performing Theatre - The Brown Grand Theatre". The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
- ^ 1900 Cloud County, Kansas Census
- ^ 1850 Pike County, Illinois Census
- ^ "The One Hundred-First Illinois". Jacksonville Daily Journal. Jacksonville, Illinois via Illinois in the Civil War. May 30, 1909. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
- ^ "Roster of Field and Staff 101st Illinois Infantry". rootsweb.com. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
- ^ The Emporia Gazette "The Brown Grand Theater" February 23, 2009
- ^ Biographical history of Cloud County, Kansas "State Normal School" by E.F. Hollibaugh, 1903