Fred H. Brown

FRED H. BROWN, a prominent business man of Parsons, Kansas, whose portrait appears on the opposite page, is secretary and treasurer, and general manager of the Kansas Telephone & Electrical Company.

Mr. Brown was born in Carthage, Missouri, in 1869, and was educated in the schools of Girard, Kansas, whither his parents moved in 1877. He also attended St. Francis Institute, of St. Paul, Kansas, and Wyman's Institute, of Alton, Illinois, taking a course in civil engineering. In 1888, he entered the engineering department of the R. H. & E. Ry. Company, with which he was identified until 1890. He then became traveling salesman for the Pittsburg & Midway Coal Company, of Midway, Kansas, and remained in that position until 1894. The following year, he organized the Kansas Telephone & Electrical Company, which was chartered under the laws of Kansas, with the following officers: Hon. Charles H. Kimball, president; A. A. Osgood, vice-president; and Fred H. Brown, secretary and treasurer. Mr. Brown has had the active management of the promotion and general business of the enterprise, with head offices in Parsons. The company operates in Montgomery, Cherokee, Crawford and Labette counties. It has an exchange in Cherryvale and one in Parsons, and the lines in Labette county extend over 75 miles. Mr. Brown has resided in Parsons since 1895.

The subject of this sketch was united in marriage, in 1892, with Minnie M. Hitz, of Girard, Kansas, and they have one son, Fred H., Jr. Fraternally, Mr. Brown is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the K. of P. Politically, he is unswerving in his support of the Republican party.