This may be of interest to descendants of Cleyson Brown: Article on: Cleyson Brown - In The Wichita Eagle newspaper, Wichita, Ks. (March 30, 2007) A mill accident, when he was 10 crushed Cleyson Brown's right elbow, ending any hope of his making a living as a farmer or miller, It was 1882. Brown studied and grduated from Abilene High School, taught for a time in a country school, then attended a business college in Burlington. By the time he was 26, Brown founded a utility company that would evolve into Sprint, one of the world's largest telecommunications companies. He remodeled the family grist mill - where his arm was mangled - into an electric company. Local leaders in Abilene were impressed with Brown's Electric Light Works, encouraged him to extend the service into nearby communities. A year later, he began supplying telephone service by using poles from his electric company to string telephone wires. In 1903, Brown emerged with 14 other independent phone companies to form the Union Telephone and Telegraph Company. By 1911, the company was known as United Telephone Company and was the second largest phone company in Kansas, right behind BELL. Brown invested his profits into other companies including an oil company, grocery store and warehouse company, more power companies, a news service and hotels. By 1926, he was one of the wealthiest men in Kansas. He built a 600-acre park, campgrounds and home near Abilene - Brown Memorial Park - and endowed it with more than $1 million. Brown died November 12, 1935, and a number of his businesses were merged; in 1937, they became United Utilities Inc. In 1972, the company changed its name to United Telecommunications. It launched the name SPRINT in 1986.