13 Facts About Philo Carpenter

Philo Carpenter was Chicago, Illinois' first pharmacist, and an outspoken abolitionist.

Philo Carpenter eventually gained a half interest in the business.

Philo Carpenter opened the settlement's first drug store in a log cabin on what is Lake Street.

Philo Carpenter made enough money in two years to afford to return to the East and get remarried to Ann Thompson.

Philo Carpenter invested heavily in real estate in the area surrounding what is LaSalle Street and Wacker Drive, but the Panic of 1837 wiped him out, and his creditors took all of the land he had purchased.

Philo Carpenter was an elder in this church until the Civil War, when members of the congregation split over whether to support the North or the South.

Philo Carpenter then organized a new church, the First Congregational, and became deacon.

Philo Carpenter was a member of the Chicago Theological Seminary, and was managing director of the Chicago Bible Society.

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.

Philo Carpenter ran for Mayor of Chicago twice on the Liberty Party ticket, losing to John Putnam Chapin in 1846, and to James Curtiss in 1847.

Philo Carpenter served as a member of the Chicago Board of Education.

Philo Carpenter was a member of the Chicago Board of Health, and was a crusader for temperance reform.

Philo Carpenter died at his daughter's home in Chicago on August 7,1886, and was buried at Graceland Cemetery.