A SHORT HISTORY OF BROWN MEMORIAL CAMP
Long before anyone heard of Disneyland or Six Flags over anything there was a great amusement park covering 250 acres carved into the green countryside south of historic Abilene, Kansas. It was known as Brown Memorial Park.
With a lake, zoo, golf course and other attractions, it was free to the public. The park had uniformed guards, instructors – but no ticket takers. Verified week-end counts sometimes exceeded 20,000 visitors during the summer. The park included lakes, boating under lights and Venice-like arched stone bridges, swimming off replica Waikiki beaches and tennis courts.
In 1934, the park also added Brown Memorial Camp and area Boy Scouts have been camping here ever since. Pictures inside the camp’s dining hall show the early history of the camp. The last remaining structure is the blockhouse, which is no longer used. When weeklong camp was still held here, canoeing was in Turkey Creek below the Block House and the rifle range was located where the new chapel was built. The original dining hall was located in what is today staff row and the camping was done on the flood plain below the main flagpole where the present day Order of the Arrow ring and nearby Cub Scout shooting sports ranges are located. The five campsites in the upper meadow were named after early Kansas military forts: Dodge, Leavenworth, Larned, Markley and Scott. In 2002, Brown Memorial Camp celebrated its 75th Anniversary of Scout Camping. Since then over $450,000 have been spent on a year-round shower house, storm shelter, climbing tower, 16 adirondacks, steel storage shed, dining hall and other facility maintenance. The overall goal includes adding premier facilities for Cub Scout programs and year round camping for area youth.
C.L. Brown’s family and many other families were members of a Quaker-like organization known as the River Bretheren; they sold their farms in Pennsylvania and migrated west. They settled in northeast Dickenson County and farmed. They built fine homes, barns and churches and made agriculture a primary business. C.L. Brown had his right elbow crushed in a grain mill, grinding corn when he was young. He was mechanically inclined and liked to make things. With farming now out of his future, he set his talents in other directions. After attending business college in Burlington, IA over the years he built an empire stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Alleghenies. He started a telephone company that later became Sprint and parts of Southwestern Bell Telephone; a utility company that merged with others and became Kansas Power and Light. His businesses were based around utilities, but included lumberyards, grocery stores and a small sheet metal works. At one time, a quarter of Abilene residents worked in Brown owned businesses. With many offers to move his corporate office to other towns, C.L. Brown remained in Abilene.
C.L. Brown was far beyond his times, he provided sickness and accident insurance for employees, death benefits and assistance in time of need and this led to a payroll savings plan. Low rent housing was provided to single-parent employees. He was always investing in his community and built a luxurious home for the aged that still operates today within the Browns Park property. This is the large building upon entering Brown Memorial Park and is one his finest achievements.
The Great Depression saw an end to many of his businesses. The park, home and Scout camp were part of a trust and untouchable to his creditors and remain today. Cleyson Leroy “C.L.” Brown was married and had a son and two daughters. He pasted in 1935 and he and his wife and son are buried in a private cemetery west of the swimming pool.