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.

Brown, whose name was often abbreviated to C. L. Brown, 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. Brown's mill/power dam on Turkey Creek is still a cornerstone of the adjoining Brown Memorial Park.

Early life Brown's father, Jacob Brown Brown lost his arm when he was ten in a mill accident. Brown first built a local electric company, Abilene Electric Light Works

Other ventures Brown then ventured into shoe stores, grocery stores, gravel and sand company, hotels, news service, and broadcast station, insurance companies and oil concerns creating an empire.

He also formed the Brown Memorial Foundation (1926) in memory of his parents. A park in around 200 acres was built for the public for free, which included an amusement park with a lake, zoo, golf course, tennis courts, and other attractions.