lawyer, politician, b. Granville, N.Y. He moved to Milwaukee in 1845, was admitted to the bar (1851), and practiced in Waupaca after 1854. A Republican, he served in the state senate (1861-1862, 1867-1868), and was a delegate to every Republican state convention for over 35 years and to several national conventions. In 1893 he retired, surrendering his large law practice to his son, EDWARD EVERTS BROWNE, b. Waupaca, a graduate of the Univ. of Wisconsin (B.Litt., 1890; LL.B., 1892). A progressive Republican, he served as district attorney of Waupaca County (1898-1905), a regent of the Univ. of Wisconsin (1905-1906), state senator (1907-1912), Congressman (1913-1931), and a member of the state conservation commission (1936-1941). While state senator he drew up the resolution amending the Wisconsin constitution to permit state aid for the building of public highways (1908), and drafted the first state-aid road law, enacted in 1911, and the law of 1909 authorizing an extensive state park system. As a member of the committee on roads in Congress, Browne played a prominent part in the passage of the first federal-aid road law (1916), which was patterned after the Wisconsin law. R. G. Thwaites, ed., Univ. of Wis. (Madison, 1900); Biog. Dir. Amer. Cong. (1950); Wis. Blue Book (1931); Who Was Who in Amer. (1950); J. M. Ware, Standard Hist. of Waupaca Co. (2 vols., Chicago, 1917); Waupaca Waupaca Co. Post, Nov. 29, 1945.Learn More
Dictionary of Wisconsin History
Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.
[Source: Blue book]
