{{short description|American businessman and founder of Walgreens}} {{for|his son|Charles Rudolph Walgreen Jr.}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2014}} {{Use American English|date=February 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox person | image = Charles R. Walgreen.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date|1873|10|09}} | birth_place = [[Knoxville, Illinois]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1939|12|11|1873|10|09}} | death_place = [[Chicago]], Illinois, U.S. | occupation = Businessman | known_for = Founding [[Walgreens]] | spouse = Myrtle Norton Walgreen<ref>[http://news.walgreens.com/article_print.cfm?article_id=2822] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726092010/http://news.walgreens.com/article_print.cfm?article_id=2822 |date=July 26, 2011 }}</ref> | children = 2, including [[Charles Rudolph Walgreen Jr.|Charles Jr.]] | education = [[Dixon College]] | website = | signature = }} '''Charles Rudolph Walgreen''' (October 9, 1873 – December 11, 1939) was an American businessman and the founder of [[Walgreens]].
==Early life== Walgreen was born on a farm near [[Galesburg, Illinois]], before moving to [[Dixon, Illinois]], in 1887.<ref>Charles R. Walgreen obituary, Dixon Evening Telegraph, Dec. 12, 1939, p. 12.</ref> He was the son of [[Sweden|Swedish]] immigrants.
In the 1790s, Charles's great-great-great-grandfather, Sven Olofsson, adopted the surname ''Wahlgren'' ({{IPA|sv|ˈvɑ̂ːlɡreːn}}){{citation needed|date=October 2019}} 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''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mBeukWeLRmcC America's Corner Store: Walgreen's Prescription for Success] Google Books</ref> When Charles was still quite young he and his family relocated to [[Dixon, Illinois]], in 1887. He attended [[Dixon High School (Illinois)|Dixon High School]] and Dixon Business College. He was a member of the international fraternity [[Tau Kappa Epsilon]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thezephyr.com/backtrack/cwalgreen.htm |title=BACKTRACKING |publisher=Thezephyr.com |access-date=December 11, 2014}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/laborhall/2006_walgreen.htm |title=U.S. Department of Labor - Labor Hall of Fame - Charles R. Walgreen |access-date=17 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090510075313/https://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/laborhall/2006_walgreen.htm |archive-date=May 10, 2009 }}</ref> At the start of the [[Spanish–American War]], Walgreen enlisted with the [[1st Illinois Volunteer Cavalry]]. While serving in Cuba, he contracted [[malaria]] and [[yellow fever]], which continued to plague him for the rest of his life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://genealogytrails.com/ill/lee/leewalgreen.html|title=LEE COUNTY ILLINOIS GENEALOGY AND HISTORY|publisher=Genealogytrails.com|access-date=December 11, 2014}}</ref>
==Career== {{Expand section|date=October 2025}} After his discharge, Walgreen returned to Chicago and worked as a pharmacist for Isaac Blood. In 1901, he purchased a local store and began operating it as a pharmacy. He opened a second store in 1909, and by 1916, he 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 his death in 1939, more than 490 Walgreens stores were established.<ref name=":1">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Charles R. Walgreen |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-R-Walgreen |access-date=July 31, 2025}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
=== Political views === According to ''[[Chicago Reader|The Chicago Reader]]'', Walgreen was "conservative in many respects", but defended President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[Revenue Act of 1935]] .<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Melendez |first=Steven |date=2024-08-12 |title=Charles R. Walgreen's anti-communist crusade |url=https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/walgreens-university-chicago-communism/ |access-date=2025-07-31 |website=[[Chicago Reader]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
In 1935, Walgreen publicly criticized the [[University of Chicago]] after his niece, Lucille Norton, allegedly told him she was studying ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'' there.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boyer |first=John |author-link=John W. Boyer |title=Dean John Boyer, AM'69, PhD'75, tells the story behind his new book, The University of Chicago: A History. |url=https://thecore.uchicago.edu/Winter2016/departments/oral-history.shtml |access-date=2025-07-31 |website=The Core: College Magazine of the University of Chicago}}</ref> He wrote a letter to the university's president, [[Robert Maynard Hutchins]], and trustees declaring his intention to pull Norton out of the university.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1935-04-22 |title=Education: Chicago & Communism |url=https://time.com/archive/6761553/education-chicago-communism/ |access-date=2025-07-31 |website=Time |language=en}}</ref> The letter received considerable attention from Chicago's press, including the ''[[Chicago Herald-Examiner]]''. The [[Illinois Senate]] opened an investigation into the university, but the hearings were unable to find evidence of [[Communism|communist]] teachings. Afterwards, Walgreen apologized to Hutchins and donated $12 million to the university in 1937. The two later became friends, with Hutchins even delivering a eulogy at Walgreen's funeral.<ref name=":0" />
=== Family === Both his son, [[Charles Rudolph Walgreen Jr.]], and his grandson, [[Charles Walgreen III|Charles R. Walgreen III]], played prominent roles in the company he founded.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hilton |first=John |date=2014-02-08 |title=All in the Family |url=https://annarborobserver.com/all-in-the-family/ |access-date=2025-07-31 |website=Ann Arbor Observer |language=en-US}}</ref> His daughter, Ruth Walgreen, married [[Justin Whitlock Dart Sr.|Justin Whitlock Dart]], who left the Walgreens company after they divorced and went on to control the rival [[Rexall]] Drug Stores in 1943.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1971-08-08 |title=Marriage and the Job |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/08/08/archives/marriage-and-the-job.html |access-date=2025-07-31 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en}}</ref> Ruth, in her adult years a published poet, eventually remarried and began spending winters in [[Tucson, Arizona]], where, she helped establish the [[University of Arizona Poetry Center|Poetry Center]] at the [[University of Arizona]] in 1960.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Star |first=Elaine Raines Arizona Daily |date=2009-04-26 |title=The Walgreen heiress who loved poetry |url=https://tucson.com/article_b6af6a58-a614-54a2-bc21-29b0bb01b2a1.html |access-date=2025-07-31 |website=Arizona Daily Star |language=en}}</ref>
== Legacy == Walgreen's donations facilitated the construction of an airport in his hometown of Dixon in 1934. In 1964, the airport was renamed the [[Dixon Municipal Airport|Charles R. Walgreen Field]], with pilot [[Merrill C. Meigs|Merrill Meigs]], a friend of Walgreen, delivering a dedication address.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wadsworth |first=Tom |date=2024-12-06 |title=A piece of Dixon history: How Charles Walgreen supported Dixon |url=https://www.shawlocal.com/sauk-valley/2024/12/06/a-piece-of-dixon-history-how-charles-walgreen-supported-dixon/ |access-date=2025-07-31 |website=Shaw Local News |language=en}}</ref>
Walgreen donated $12 million to the [[University of Chicago]] in 1937, establishing the Walgreen Foundation at the school. The foundation funded lectures on American society until the 1950s.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />
In 2006, Walgreen was inducted into the [[Labor Hall of Honor]], run by the [[United States Department of Labor]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hall of Honor Inductees |url=https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/hallofhonor/inductees |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250725105259/https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/hallofhonor/inductees |archive-date=2025-07-25 |access-date=2025-07-31 |website=DOL |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==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== *[http://www.walgreens.com/default.jsp Walgreens Official Website]
{{Walgreens}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walgreen, Charles Rudolph}} [[Category:1873 births]] [[Category:1939 deaths]] [[Category:People from Knoxville, Illinois]] [[Category:Military personnel from Illinois]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Illinois]] [[Category:American anti-communists]] [[Category:American people of Swedish descent]] [[Category:American businesspeople in retailing]] [[Category:20th-century American pharmacists]] [[Category:American company founders]] [[Category:Walgreens people]] [[Category:Methodists from Illinois]]