William Brown, born in Cumberland, England in 1819, moved to America with his parents in 1827, studied law in Rome, New York, and came to Rockford in 1846, where he lived for 45 years and served as a teacher, attorney, prosecutor, mayor, judge, civic leader, and investor. After briefly working as a teacher, he was elected justice of the peace and then state's attorney for three years. In 1855, he was elected mayor of Rockford, and afterward practiced law, first in partnership with William Lathrop for three years and later with H.W. Taylor. In 1870, he was elected a circuit court judge and was re-elected every year for twenty years. Brown also served on the citizens' committee that established Rockford Hospital, the city's first hospital, and was the hospital's chairman of the board and president from 1884 to 1886. He also helped establish Rockford's knitting industry by investing in the Nelson Knitting Company with Ralph Emerson. Brown died of a stroke and heart failure in 1891, and the most important commercial building being built in Rockford at that time was named after him.