Philo Carpenter (February 27, 1805 – August 7, 1886) was

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

' first

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

, and an outspoken

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

Biography

Born in Savoy, Massachusetts, February 27, 1805, young Philo learned medicine and the pharmaceutical trade in

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Çan ...

, New York in the drugstore of Amatus Robins, eventually gaining a half interest in the business. There he married Sarah Bridges in May 1830, but she died that November. Joining the Presbyterian Church, in Troy, he gained an interest in missionary work. Business and religion shaped much of the rest of his life. Hearing from his cousin of the opportunities for both business and proselytizing in the then frontier, in 1832, he sold his share of the drugstore. Shipping ahead a supply of drugs and medical equipment, he moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, then an unincorporated village clustered around Fort Dearborn. Arriving during a cholera outbreak, he helped treat the victims. He opened the settlement's first drug store in a log cabin on what is now Lake Street. He made enough money in two years to afford to return to the East and get remarried to Ann Thompson. They had seven children together. Philo and Ann Carpenter's arrival in Chicago was a small turning point in the area's history, because they came into town in a fancy carriage. This was the first pleasure vehicle to arrive in Chicago, and the Carpenters' trip in such a carriage demonstrated that the area was safe from Indian attacks. Carpenter invested heavily in real estate in the area surrounding what is now

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and

Wacker Drive Wacker Drive is a major multilevel street in Chicago, Illinois, running along the south side of the main branch and the east side of the south branch of the Chicago River in the Loop.Hayner, Don and Tom McNamee, ''Streetwise Chicago'', "Wacker D ...

, but the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...

wiped him out, and his creditors took all of the land he had purchased. The area would be worth over $200 million today. His pharmaceutical business soon allowed him to become financially solvent again. A religious man, he organized the Home Sunday School of the First Presbyterian Church. He was an elder in this church until the

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, when members of the congregation split over whether to support the North or the South. He then organized a new church, the First Congregational, and became deacon. Carpenter also was a member of the

Chicago Theological Seminary Founded in 1855, the Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is the oldest higher education institution in the City of Chicago and was established with two principal goals: first, to educate pastors who would minister to people living on the new weste ...

, and was managing director of the

Chicago Bible Society (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1838, Carpenter helped to form and lead the Chicago chapter of the American Anti-Slavery Society, along with Dr. Charles V. Dyer, Robert Freeman, and Calvin DeWolf. He ran for

Mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and r ...

twice on the Liberty Party ticket, losing to John Putnam Chapin in 1846, and to James Curtiss in 1847. Carpenter served as a member of the

Chicago Board of Education The Chicago Board of Education serves as the board of education (school board) for the Chicago Public Schools. The board traces its origins to the Board of School Inspectors, created in 1837. The board is currently appointed solely by the mayo ...

. The aftermath of the fire of 1871 saw Carpenter in another leadership role as he organized the Relief and Aid Society. He also was a member of the Chicago Board of Health, and was a crusader for temperance reform. He died at his daughter's home in Chicago on August 7, 1886.

Legacy

The first school to bear his name was built in 1868 on the same site, to the east of the present school which opened in 1957. Carpenter School was closed in 2013. One of his daughters, Augusta Carpenter, is the namesake of Chicago's Augusta Boulevard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Philo 1805 births 1886 deaths American abolitionists American pharmacists Congregationalist abolitionists Illinois Libertyites Members of the Chicago Board of Education People from Chicago Presbyterian abolitionists