Simpson College
Thomas Murphy was born on July 10, 1866, in Jasper County, Iowa, the United States. He was the eldest of four surviving children of Hugh Montgomery Murphy and Caroline (Dowler) Murphy. Born on the family homestead in Jasper County, Iowa, he grew up there and attended local schools.
Following his graduation, a college friend, Thomas Murphy, urged him to join him in publishing a newspaper in Red Oak. Hugh Murphy agreed to back his son for the initial payment toward a half interest in the Red Oak Independent. The town of 3,000 had enough newspapers, and the Independent was not particularly welcome. There was a mortgage, a long list of delinquent accounts, and a decrepit subscription list. The pair, aged 22 and 23, worked hard to increase subscriptions and collect long-due accounts. They were still short of operating capital, however. In 1889 a new courthouse was to be built in Red Oak. The pair wanted a woodcut of the new building for the Independent, but could scarcely afford it. Thomas Murphy gave Osborne credit for the idea of using the woodcut as a centerpiece on a wall calendar, surrounding it with advertising cards. The venture met with success, and the young men pursued the concept. They encountered a lot of difficulties with a rheumatic job press. They were, however, in the calendar business. In 1891 they incorporated as the Osborne and Murphy Co., and business expanded. The partners’ different philosophies led to a parting of the ways. Thomas Murphy sold his interest in the company to Osborne, agreeing to stay out of the calendar business for five years, and devoting himself to the Independent.
In 1900 Thomas Murphy returned to the calendar business under his own name. He and his brother-in-law William Cochrane soon had new quarters and a sales force. In 1903 a disastrous fire swept through downtown Red Oak. With business doubling every year, the company undertook an ambitious new building project away from downtown. The three-story, 50,000-square-foot building, set among lawns and flower gardens, might have been part of a college campus. The business continued to expand, with Cochrane as an able sales manager. The Thos. D. Murphy Co. met with outstanding success and became one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of art calendars. The calendars were sold to businesses that distributed them to customers, providing frameable artworks. The widely varied subjects often reflected the decade in which they were produced. Elbert Hubbard wrote with characteristic enthusiasm, "Not a house, a home, a hotel, a store, a factory, a banking house or an office in all America but has a Red Oak calendar." A branch office was opened in London, and by 1910 sales had expanded to Holland, Belgium, and France.
Locally, Thomas Murphy retained ownership of the Red Oak Express, the successor to the Independent, and was a constant supporter of civic projects. The Murphy Co. continued in Red Oak through most of the 20 century. In 1985 it was sold to Jordan Industries, which continued limited operations until 2002.
In 1894 Thomas Murphy married Ina Culbertson, and they became parents of one son.
