Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly (July 8, 1838 – June 6, 1898) was an American Union Army officer, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and recruited a company of men to serve with him in the 18th Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery. He was later promoted to major and then colonel, and was given command of the 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment. Lilly was captured in September 1864 and held as a prisoner of war until January 1865. After the war, he attempted to run a plantation in Mississippi, but it failed and he returned to his pharmacy profession after the death of his first wife.

This profile of Eli Lilly covers Early Life and Family Background, Career and Rise to Fame, American Civil War, Business Ventures and Eli Lilly and Company founder.

Lilly remarried and worked with business partners in several pharmacies in Indiana and Illinois before opening his own business in 1876 in Indianapolis. Lilly's company manufactured drugs and marketed them on a wholesale basis to pharmacies. Lilly's pharmaceutical firm proved to be successful and he soon became wealthy after making numerous advances in medicinal drug manufacturing. Two of the early advances he pioneered were creating gelatin capsules to contain medicines and developing fruit flavorings. Eli Lilly and Company became one of the first pharmaceutical firms of its kind to staff a dedicated research department and put into place numerous quality-assurance measures.

Using his wealth, Lilly engaged in numerous philanthropic pursuits. He turned over the management of the company to his son, Josiah K. Lilly Sr., around 1890 to allow himself more time to continue his involvement in charitable organizations and civic advancement. Lilly helped found the Commercial Club, the forerunner to the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, and became the primary patron of Indiana's branch of the Charity Organization Society. He personally funded a children's hospital in Indianapolis, known as Eleanor Hospital (closed in 1909). Lilly continued his active involvement with many other organizations until his death from cancer in 1898.

Lilly was an advocate of federal regulation of the pharmaceutical industry, and many of his suggested reforms were enacted into law in 1906, resulting in the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. He was also among the pioneers of the concept of prescriptions, and helped form what became the common practice of giving addictive or dangerous medicines only to people who had first seen a physician. The company he founded has since grown into one of the largest and most influential pharmaceutical corporations in the world, and the largest corporation in Indiana. Using the wealth generated by the company, his son, J. K., and grandsons, Eli Jr. And Josiah Jr. (Joe), established the Lilly Endowment in 1937. It remains as one of the largest charitable benefactors in the world and continues the Lilly legacy of philanthropy.

Early Life and Family Background of Eli Lilly

Lilly was born on July 8, 1838, in Baltimore, Maryland, the first of eleven children born to Gustavus and Esther (Kirby) Lilly. His family, who were partly of Swedish descent, moved to the low country of France before his great-grandparents immigrated to Maryland in 1789. As an infant, the family moved to Kentucky, where they eventually settled on a farm near Warsaw in Gallatin County.

In 1852, the family settled at Greencastle, Indiana, where Lilly's parents enrolled him at Indiana Asbury University, later renamed DePauw University, where he attended from 1852 to 1854. He also assisted at a local printing press as a printer's devil. Lilly grew up in a Methodist household, and his family was prohibitionist and anti-slavery; these beliefs partly motivated their move to Indiana. Lilly and his family were also members of the Democratic Party in his early years, but became Republicans prior to the American Civil War.

Lilly became interested in chemicals as a teen. In 1854, while on a trip to visit his aunt and uncle in Lafayette, Indiana, the 16-year-old Lilly visited Henry Lawrence's Good Samaritan Drug Store, a local apothecary shop, where he watched Lawrence prepare pharmaceutical drugs. Lilly completed a four-year apprenticeship with Lawrence to become a chemist and pharmacist. Along with mixing chemicals, Lawrence taught Lilly how to manage funds and operate a business.

Career and Rise to Fame of Eli Lilly

In 1858, after earning a certificate of proficiency from his apprenticeship, Lilly left the Good Samaritan to work for Israel Spencer and Sons, a wholesale and retail druggist in Lafayette, before moving to Indianapolis to take a position at the Perkins and Coons Pharmacy.

In 1860, Lilly returned to Greencastle, Indiana, where he worked in Jerome Allen's drugstore. He opened his own drugstore in the city in January 1861, and married Emily Lemen, the daughter of a Greencastle merchant, on January 31, 1861. During the early years of their marriage, the couple resided in Greenfield. The couple's son, Josiah Kirby, later called "J.K.", was born on November 18, 1861, while Eli was serving in the military during the American Civil War.

American Civil War

In 1861, a few months after the start of the American Civil War, Lilly enlisted in the Union Army and joined the 21st Indiana Infantry Regiment on July 24. Lilly was commissioned as a second lieutenant on July 29, 1861. On August 3, the 21st Regiment reached Lilly's birthplace of Baltimore, where it remained for several months. Lilly resigned his commission in December 1861, and returned to Indiana to form an artillery unit.

In early 1862, Lilly actively recruited volunteers for his unit among his classmates, friends, local merchants, and farmers. He had recruitment posters created and posted them around Indianapolis, promising to form the "crack battery of Indiana". His unit, the 18th Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery, was known as the “Lilly Battery” and consisted of six, three-inch ordnance rifles and 150 men. Lilly was commissioned as a captain in the unit. The 18th Indiana mustered into service at Camp Morton in Indianapolis on August 6, 1862, and spent a brief time drilling before it was sent into battle under Major General William Rosecrans in Kentucky and Tennessee. Lilly's artillery unit was transferred to the Lightning Brigade, a mounted infantry under the command of Colonel, later General, John T. Wilder on December 16, 1862.

Lilly was elected to serve as the commanding officer of his battery from August 1862 until the winter of 1863, when his three-year enlistment expired. His only prior military experience had been in a Lafayette, Indiana, militia unit. Several of his artillerymen considered him too young and intemperate to command; but despite his initial inexperience, Lilly became a competent artillery officer. His battery was instrumental in several battles, including the Battle of Hoover's Gap in June 1863, the Second Battle of Chattanooga in August 1863, the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, and the Battle of Mossy Creek in December 1863.

In 1864, when Lilly's term of enlistment ended, he resigned his commission and left the 18th Indiana. Lilly joined the 9th Indiana Cavalry (121st Regiment Indiana Volunteers) and was promoted to major.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Lilly), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.