George L. Brower (1850-1940)

BROWER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 4/23/2023 at 13:56:45

George L. Brower
(1850-1940)

George L. Brower, of Rockwell City, has been prominently connected with a number of industrial concerns of Calhoun county, owns considerable land and has gained success in the abstract and money-loaning business and is likewise connected with banking interests. He was born in Jackson, Michigan, on the 16th of December, 1850, a son of David D. and Abbie (Morehouse) Brower, both of whom were natives of New York state. They were married in that state but not long afterward emigrated westward, locating near Jackson, Michigan, where the father carried on farming throughout the remainder of his life. He was a republican in politics, fraternally was connected with the Odd Fellows and gave his religious allegiance to the Methodist Episcopal church. He passed away in 1896, when eighty years of age, as he was born in 1816, but his wife died in 1857, when comparatively young. To them were born ten children, but only three survive, those besides our subject being: Mrs. C. A. Norton, of Stockbridge, Michigan; and Josiah M., who is farming near that place. Three brothers of our subject, Joseph, William and Charley, died while serving in the Union army or shortly after returning home, of disease contracted while in the military service. Another brother, Samuel, also served in the Civil war.
George L. Brower attended the common schools of Michigan and continued his education in the schools of Iowa Falls, this state. He came west when but fifteen years of age and first found employment as a clerk in a store at Iowa Falls. When nineteen years old he went to Dubuque, where he remained for some time. He was a graduate of The Bayless Commercial College at Dubuque and for three years taught bookkeeping and commercial arithmetic. He then became a traveling salesman, representing a house dealing in notions, for seven years, and after leaving the employ of that company engaged in general merchandising at Fonda, Iowa, where he remained for five years. In connection with the store he conducted a creamery, which was the first one established in Pocahontas county. In 1884 he removed to Rockwell City and for two years dealt in lumber. He then purchased a set of abstract books and has since carried on an abstract business and at the same time has engaged in loaning money. He also places farm loans for insurance companies and in all of his business activities has met with a large measure of success. In October, 1891, he established a private bank, which is now known as the Security State Bank and which is capitalized for sixty thousand dollars. In 1896 he purchased a large tract of land in Rockwell City, paying therefore one hundred thousand dollars, and upon this site erected a canning factory, a bottling works and a large brick and tile factory, becoming the president of the above named concerns. He also erected a modern hotel in the city and in addition to the interests already mentioned he has invested quite heavily in real estate, owning both farm and city property.
Mr. Brower was married in 1876 to Miss Ella J. Busby, a daughter of Mrs. Jane busby, of Dubuque, Iowa. To this union five children have been born, one of whom survives, namely: Mrs. C. C. Hatcher, who is living in Atlanta, Georgia, where her husband is successfully engaged in the insurance and money-loaning business. Mr. Brower is a republican in politics and is loyal in his support of that party at the polls. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic blue lodge, the Royal Arch chapter, the Knights Templar commandery, the Scottish Rite, the Mystic Shrine and the Order of the Eastern Star, and he is also a Knight of Pythias. He has always taken an active part in the work of the Presbyterian church and was one of the organizers of the church of that denomination at Rockwell City. He helped to build an old edifice of that congregation and was one of the heaviest contributors to the building fund when the new house of worship was erected. For years he served as superintendent of the Sunday school and has at all times aided in every possible way in promoting the influence of Christian teachings. When he first engaged in business on his own account he had practically no capital but he possessed the great assets of energy, sound judgment and unswerving integrity and these qualities have enabled him to win a comfortable fortune and at the same time to hold the unqualified respect of all who have been associated with him in business or in other relations.[Past and present of Calhoun County, Iowa, Volume 2, Pioneer Publishing Company, Chicago, 1915]

BROWER, GEORGE LLOYD, the son of David D. Brower and Abigal Morehouse, was born at Jackson, Michigan, December 14, 1850. The elder Brower was a farmer, who left Oswego County, New York, where he was born, shortly after his marriage, and settled on a farm in Jackson County, Mich. He is still living, at the age of 90, at Stockbridge, Michigan. The mother died when young George was 7 years old. At the age of 15, being a bright ambitious lad, with a desire to make a place for himself in the world, he started for the west. He took the Illinois Central to its western terminus, which in 1866 was Iowa Falls. Here he stopped and looked about him for work. He obtained a situation as clerk in Wilde and Bliss’ dry goods store, where he remained three years. He had had common school advantages in Michigan, and now, feeling a desire for further improvement, he took his savings and went to Dubuque, where he entered Prof. Baylies’ Commercial College. He finished the course in six months and then, at the urgent solicitation of Prof. Baylies, he accepted the position of teacher of bookkeeping and penmanship in the college, and taught for three years.
In 1872 he arranged to go on the road as traveling salesman for John Bell & Co., wholesale dry goods merchants of Dubuque, and $3,000, in the stock and fixtures. The following year he opened a creamery in connection with his other business, the first one to be started in the northwest part of the state. After five years in Fonda, he sold out his interests there and removed to Rockwell City, in March, 1884. He bought a lumber yard and a set of abstract books, and opened a real estate abstract and loan business. In October, 1889, he organized the Security Bank, of which he is sole owner and president. It is the leading bank of Rockwell City. Mr. Brower was one of the organizers and directors of the Bankers’ State Bank, of Des Moines, to which city he removed in 1891, though still remaining in active business in Rockwell City. Since beginning the real estate business in 1884, he has located many scores of settlers on Calhoun and Pocahontas County farms. In the last five years he has extended this business to the grand prairies of Arkansas. He purchased 10,000 acres there and has over 100 families in that beautiful country. Mr. Brower is a republican, warmly interested in the success of his party, but his tastes lying altogether in the line of business, he has always refused to run for any office, though several times urged to do so. He is a 32nd degree Mason, a member of Des Moines Consistory, and of Temple Comandery No. 4: also a member of Myrtle Lodge, K. of P., of Rockwell City.
December 30, 1876,, Mr. Brower was married to Miss Ella J. Busby, of Dubuque. To them have been born five children,only two of whom are living, Aileen, aged 19, and Imogen, aged 15. The elder daughter, Miss Aileen, has developed a remarkable soprano voice of phenomenal quality and volume, which is receiving the best of training. She went abroad in 1898 to study with a view to grand opera. In 1897 Mr. Brower left Des Moines for Chicago, where he located his family at Forty-seventh Street and Kenwood Avenue. They will remain in Chicago during the education of the daughters, who are attending Kenwood Institute: thereafter, he expects to return to Des Moines, and make his permanent home there. He is one of the pioneers of Iowa, a man who, unaided, has accumulated a large fortune, through his native executive ability and shrewd financial good sense. Mr. Brower bought, in January, 1901, of Rockwell & Hubbell, the founders of the town, all the unsold town lots in Rockwell City and about 1,200 acres of land adjoining the town. The consideration was about $100,000. This deal was regarded as a very fortunate one for the town, insuring greater activity and improvement.
On April 4, 1900, Mr. Brower sailed from New York on the steamship “St. Paul” for Paris, where he joined his wife and two daughters, who had been in Paris since August, 1899. They visited the Paris exposition and traveled in various parts of Europe during the summer and autumn. [Biographies and portraits of the progressive men of Iowa: leaders
Volume 2, by Benjamin F. Gue, Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh, Conway and Shaw Publishers, Des Moines,
1899]

Brower George L. was a resident of Fonda from January 1, 1878, until he spring of 1883, when he moved to Rockwell City, where he established the Security bank. At the time he located in Fonda, he opened a general store and, one month later, purchased the entire stock of general merchandise owned by W. HClemens. January 1, 1881, he opened a branch store and at in charge of W. Hodges, and leased the Fonda creamery when it was completed that spring. All of these business interests at Fonda and Pocahontas were relinquished in the spring of 1883. He took an active part in all the arrangements connected with the incorporation of Fonda. He was appointed one of the commissioners to hold the first municipal election, was the first to hold the office of town treasurer, was a member of the first town council and continued to serve in that capacity five years, 1879 to 1882.
He married Ella J. daughter of James and Jean Busby, and their family consisted of five children two of whom died in childhood, and Harry, in his tenth year, December 15, 1895. For several years he and his family have resided in Des Moines and Chicago, in order to secure the best educational advantages for their two daughters, Aileen and Imogene, and in July 1890they went to Paris, that Aileen who posseses a voice of unusual sweetness and power, and who has aleady become a very accomplished singer, might pursue advanced studies in music for a couple of years. As a man he is gentle and good natured, never in a hurry but always planning some new venture and carrying to a successful issue large business interests. At Rockwell City there has been according to him the honorable title, “Brower the Builder,” because he has built more houses and large business blocks in that city than any other man.” He has also been the inventor of a set of building blocks that are generally coveted by children all over the land. He is a man equipped for business, has the faculty of developing large results from small beginnings, knows how to ake a profitable use of every thing that comes into his possession and seems to be uniformly successful in all his enterprises.
[source: Robert Elliott Flickinger - Pioneer History of Pocahontas County, Iowa, 1904]