Historical Orange family member dies

Debby Schamber

A member of an historical and once prominent Orange family has died in Dallas.

John Shillard Brown, 88, was one of four sons of E.W. “Edgar” Jr. and Gladys Slade Brown. He died following a long illness.

His family’s legacy remains very much a part of Orange.

Edgar W. Brown Sr. was born in Ringgold, Georgia in 1859, to Dr. Samuel M. and Georgia (Malone) Brown. After the Civil War, his family moved several times before settling in Orange in 1871.

In addition to traveling on Edgar Brown Drive, citizens of Orange can go to the former Edgar Brown Jr. family home to pay their water bills or take care of city business. John Shillard Brown lived there with his parents until he was able to move out to put his own mark on the world.

The home which was built around 1924 was sold to the city for $40,000 in 1944. A great deal of renovations were required to transform it from a residence to an office building. One room which remained true to the original home was the study. Although not entirely original such as the furnishings, there are still some items like the mantle of the fire place and the oriental rug which are original to the home.

Following the sale of the home, the Browns moved to another residence located at 4205 Park Ave.

It is now more commonly known as the Brown Center of Lamar State College, Orange. The house is a replica of a late 1700s antebellum plantation situated on 62 beautifully landscaped acres. Completed in 1956, the home comprises approximately 20,000 square feet and consists of 20 rooms: four bedrooms, six bathrooms, two family rooms, a formal dining room, drawing room (now a second dining room), library, solarium, kitchen with butler’s pantry, freezer room, laundry room, office and hobby room. It also features two foyers, two porches, a three-car garage and a working basement.

Originally called Linden of Pinehurst, it was designed after the famous antebellum Linden home in Natchez, Mississippi, after Gladys Brown toured it in the 1930s. Architects obtained the original plans from the Library of Congress in 1947, but due to material shortages brought on by World War II, construction was shelved until 1952. The house cost over $1 million to construct. To replace it today with the same quality materials and workmanship, the house would cost over $10 million.

Eighty-eight acres of the property were later turned over to Lamar University to be used as a center of cultural and educational activities. It is now open for tours and special events, including conferences and seminars.

Edgar Brown Jr. was in 1933 the principal owner of Levingston Shipbuilding Company, which during World War II built many vessels for the war effort and was awarded the "E" award for outstanding service to the United States Navy. Later he acquired the Gulfport Shipbuilding Company in Port Arthur and the Higman Towing Company, which he sold to his son L. Slade Brown in 1969. He was president of the Lutcher-Moore Cypress Lumber Company and vice president of the Dibert, Stark, and Brown Cypress Lumber Company. With his brother, B. Lutcher Brown, and his mother, he organized the Brown Paper Mill Company in Monroe, Louisiana, in 1923 and acquired vast holdings of timber for its supply.

Following his Air Corps service, John S. Brown served as an executive in the Brown Paper Mill in Monroe, LA, until it was sold to Olin in 1956, according to information from Dr. Howard Williams.

Edgar Brown Jr. was a founder of the Sabine River Water Shed Association, which later became the Sabine River Authority, and ultimately developed Toledo Bend Reservoir. After World War II he was a founder, with H. J. Lutcher Stark, his cousin, of the Industrial Development Committee, which led to the development of Chemical Row with its many petrochemical plants, according to Williams.

Among the Brown family’s other philanthropies, they supported the American Red Cross and Salvation Army in Orange and provided new facilities for them. Edgar and Gladys Brown supported and donated funds to the Bancroft School library in their Pinehurst home district, and they founded and supported Girls Haven in Orange. They gave the Slade Chapel to the First Methodist Church of Orange and set up a foundation to provide for its maintenance; they also contributed a parsonage.

To the First Presbyterian Church they gave a manse and a protective dome for the church's priceless stained-glass windows. The Browns gave the First Baptist Church of Orange money toward the building of the McCorquodale Education Building and a recreational building. Brown donated a building to the Orange Community Players and funds to assist with many of their productions. In his memory each year the troupe presents a "Mr. Edgar" award to outstanding achievers.

During John Shillard Brown’s childhood in Orange, he spent time working cattle on the back of a horse as well as hunting and fishing in local waterways.

Following the paper mill sale, John S. Brown and his wife Suzy moved to Dallas, where he founded Brown Aero Corp. and was a founder of Addison Airport in 1958. He served as a director of Texas Bank and Trust, and was active in the management of E. W. Brown Properties, based in Orange, until 1990.

During his early career John S. Brown is said to have pinpointed 1936-37 as major turning points in his life. One of which is when he first flew solo in an airplane and met his wife Betty Sue "Suzy" Bullock, who was visiting Orange from Louisville, KY.

John S. Brown attained his pilot's license in 1940 and accumulated over 6,000 hours in the air during his lifetime. He attended Georgia Tech, where he was proud to be the only freshman admitted to the wind tunnel class, and received his aeronautical engineering degree from Spartan Aeronautical Institute in 1943. He was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in 1943 and served as a pilot until 1945.

John S. Brown and his wife Suzy had two children, Sue Brown Clark, who died in 2004, and John S. Brown Jr.

Services were held in Dallas at Highland Park United Methodist Church, the Reverend Bill Smith presiding, on July 24. Interment preceded at Sparkman-Hillcrest in Dallas.



Debby Schamber is a reporter for the Orange Leader. She can be reached at 409-883-3571 ext. 2603 or at dschamber@orangeleader.com.

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