Charles Rudolph Walgreen, Sr.

Charles Rudolph Walgreen (October 9, 1873 – December 11, 1939) was an American businessman and the founder of Walgreens. Background He was born in Dixon, Illinois, before moving to Galesburg, Illinois, at a young age. He was the son of Swedish immigrants. In the 1790s, Charles's great-great-great-grandfather, Sven Olofsson, adopted the surname Wahlgren 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. When Charles was still quite young he and his family relocated to Dixon, Illinois, in 1887. He attended Dixon High School, Dixon Business College. He was a member of the international fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon. 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. 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.