Photograph of Frame C. Brown and Molly Brown Caren Fisher

This photograph shows Frame C. Brown seated and holding his young daughter Marie (Molly) Brown (later Molly Brown Caren Fisher) on his lap.

Frame Brown and his wife, Marie Gwynne Brown, were owners of the Brown Fruit Farm north of Worthington from 1912 to 1936. Frame’s father, William C. Brown, purchased the farm from its original owner, Frank Bower, in 1911, and then turned it over to Frame in 1912. Frame had just graduated from Yale and he and Marie, newly married, moved into a farmhouse on the farm. Their daughter Molly was born in 1913, and after Frame and Marie passed away in 1936, she carried on operations of the farm for another 20 years.

According to Frame's December 17, 1936 obituary in the "Columbus Dispatch":

"Mr. Brown attended the Columbus public schools and later Lawrenceville Preparatory school. In 1905 he was graduated from Yale university.

"He was a member of the state horticulture societies of New York, Indiana, Virginia and Michigan and was president of the Ohio Horticulture Services, Inc.

"While at Yale university, where he received a master farmer degree, he was a member of the following organizations: Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity; Wolf’s Head society, Yale dramatic and glee clubs and the Phelps association. He was a charter member of the Rocky Fork Hunt and Country club, and a member of the Wyandotte Country club, Saturday Night club and the Players club."

Molly was raised on the Brown Fruit Farm and later became its owner. After going to college, first at Trinity College in Washington D.C. and then at The Ohio State University, she returned to run the farm following the death of her parents Frame and Marie in 1936. She welcomed cooperation with The Ohio State University, with professors bringing their classes to the farm to study their methods. The farm closed in 1958 following several years of early spring freezes that diminished its profitability. OSU’s Agricultural Center two miles north of London, Ohio, is named after her.

The Brown Fruit Farm operated north of Worthington for nearly fifty years, from around 1912 to 1958. The farm grew and sold apples and apple products such as juice, candy and apple butter, as well as cherries, plums and honey. As of 1925, the farm encompassed 100 acres planted with 4000 fruit trees and was the largest fruit farm in central Ohio. It was renowned not only for the quality of its produce, but also for its innovative roadside marketing, including signs telling motorists how many miles they were from the farm.