Browne, Nathaniel Borradaile.

Nathaniel Borradaile Browne, (1819-1875), was a Philadelphia lawyer, businessman, and public servant. Born in Philadelphia in 1819, he lived and worked in the district known as West Philadelphia. He served in both the federal and the Pennsylvania state governments, worked on the Philadelphia Centennial in Fairmount Park, and became the first president of Fidelity Trust Company

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1839, he studied law in the office of Charles Chauncey for one year. He spent another year learning business and commercial law in a large Philadelphia establishment before beginning his own private commercial and real estate law practice. He was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1842, and settled in West Philadelphia in 1850, where he became a substantial property owner. He was elected President of the Board of Commissioners of West Philadelphia in 1853, and influenced the University of Pennsylvania to relocate there. Browne was part of a group of reformers, which included Philadelphia resident Eli K. Price, who wanted to unite the city of Philadelphia with its surrounding separate districts.

In addition to his legal practice, Browne became involved in state and national politics through his interest in local reforms. Browne represented the Fourth District in the Pennsylvania State Senate as a Democrat from 1854 until 1856, where he helped to pass the Consolidation Act of 1854, which united the city and county of Philadelphia, and the Temperance Act of 1855. At the end of the 1856 session, he served as Speaker ad interim . United States President James Buchanan appointed him Postmaster of the city of Philadelphia in 1859, a position he kept until the end of Buchanan’s term. Browne became a Director of the Union League during the Civil War, and served on the Executive Committee concerned with enlisting African-American troops. In 1865, he was appointed Treasurer of the U.S. Mint and Assistant Treasurer of the United States at Philadelphia. In 1866 he became a founding member and first president of the Fidelity Insurance, Trust and Safe Deposit Company. This company changed its name to Fidelity Trust Company during the 1890s and continued to do business under this name until Shawmut Bank acquired it in 1986.

Browne served on the first board of Commissioners of Fairmount Park along with Major General George Meade and Eli K. Price. As Treasurer of the Fairmount Park Commission from 1867 to 1871, Browne helped to expand the park and to plan for the 1876 Centennial. In February, 1875, Browne developed pneumonia and he died of typhoid on March 13 of that year, at the age of 56. At the time of his death, he was a vestryman at the Church of the Saviour in West Philadelphia. The Philadelphia bar, editors of the Episcopal Register, and the Board of Directors of the Fidelity Insurance, Trust, and Safe Deposit Company wrote eulogies.

Butler, C.M. A Sermon in Memory of N.B. Browne, Esq. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1882. Coxe, Robert. Legal Philadelphia: Comments and Memories. Philadelphia: Campbell, 1908. Gopsill, James. Gopsill’s Philadelphia Business Directory. Philadelphia: James Gopsill’s Sons, 1880, 1885, 1889, 1903. Martin, John Hill. Martin’s Bench and Bar of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: R. Welsh & Co., 1883. White, Theo B. Fairmount, Philadelphia’s Park: A History. Philadelphia: The Art Alliance Press, 1975. Historical and biographical information obtained from the collection.

From the guide to the N. B. Browne papers, 1845–1873, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)