Charles Rudolph Walgreen Sr. (October 9, 1873 – December 11, 1939) was an American businessman who founded

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...

Background

He was born in

Dixon, Illinois Dixon is a city and the county seat of Lee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,733 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,941 in 2000. The city is named after founder John Dixon, who operated a rope ferry service across the R ...

, before moving to

Galesburg, Illinois Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is northwest of Peoria. At the 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal city of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical ...

, at a young age. He was the son of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

immigrants. In the 1790s, Charles's great-great-great-grandfather, Sven Olofsson, adopted the surname ''Wahlgren'' () during his military service, a family fact passed down over the generations. When Charles's father, Carl Magnus Olofsson, came to America from Sweden, he decided to change the family name to ''Walgreen''. When Charles was still quite young he and his family relocated to

, in 1887. He attended Dixon High School, Dixon Business College. He was a member of the international fraternity

Tau Kappa Epsilon Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, making the Fraternity an internat ...

. As a young adult, he lost part of a finger in an accident at a shoe factory. The doctor who treated him persuaded him to become an apprentice for a local druggist. His interest in pharmacy dated from the time he was employed by D.S. Horton, a druggist in Dixon where he was apprenticed as a pharmacist. In 1893, Walgreen went to Chicago and became a registered pharmacist. At the start of the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

, Walgreen enlisted with the 1st Illinois Volunteer Cavalry. While serving in Cuba, he contracted

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

and

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

, which continued to plague him for the rest of his life.

Career

After his discharge, Walgreen returned to Chicago and worked as a pharmacist for Isaac Blood. In 1901, he opened a second store in 1909 and by 1916 owned nine drug stores, which he incorporated as Walgreen Co. Walgreens was one of the first chains to carry non-pharmaceuticals as a mainstay of the store's retail selection. Walgreens offered low-priced lunch counters, built its own ice cream factory, and introduced the malted milk shake in 1922. By 1927, Walgreen had established 110 stores. His son Charles Rudolph Walgreen Jr. (March 4, 1906 – February 10, 2007) and grandson Charles R. Walgreen III both shared his name and played prominent roles in the company he founded. His daughter, Ruth Walgreen, married Justin Whitlock Dart, who left the Walgreens company after they divorced and went on to control the rival

Rexall Rexall was a chain of American drugstores, and the name of their store-branded products. The stores, having roots in the federation of United Drug Stores starting in 1903, licensed the Rexall brand name to as many as 12,000 drug stores across th ...

Drug Stores in 1943.
Ruth, in her adult years a published poet, eventually remarried and began spending winters in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, where in the early 1960s, she was instrumental in establishing the Poetry Center at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. He is a member of the

Labor Hall of Fame The United States Department of Labor Hall of Honor is in the Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC. It is a monument to honor Americans who have made a positive contribution to how people in the United States work an ...

References

Sources

*Griffin, Marie. ''Industry 'Legends' Deserve Recognition'' (Drug Store News, October 9, 1995) *Ingham, John N. ''Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders'' (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983) *Van Doren, Charles, ed. ''Webster's American Biographies'' (Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Co., 1979)

External links

Walgreens Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walgreen, Charles Rudolph 1873 births 1939 deaths People from Knoxville, Illinois Military personnel from Illinois Businesspeople from Illinois American people of Swedish descent American businesspeople in retailing American pharmacists American company founders Walgreens people Methodists from Illinois