PHILLIPS, DR. JOSIAH LAKE, was born in Farmington, Maine, June 8, 1835, and was educated at Bowdoin college. He studied medicine with his father, Dr. Allen Phillips, and then went to Chicago where he graduated from Rush Medical college at the early age of twenty-one years; spent one year at Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin; was one of the party sent out by the Western Town company to start a town at the falls of the Big Sioux. He arrived at Sioux Falls on the 27th day of August, 1857, and was among those who spent the following winter at the falls. Upon the organization of Big Sioux county he was appointed justice of the peace by the governor of Minnesota. In 1861, having returned to Dubuque, Iowa, he enlisted in the 16th Iowa regiment, and was appointed assistant surgeon and soon after promoted surgeon of that regiment, and remained in the service until the close of the war. In the fall of 1869 he returned to Sioux Falls and perfected his title to the quarter section of land on which the original village of Sioux Falls was located. The first village plat within the present limits of the city of Sioux Falls was made by him, and comprised nine blocks, 1 to 3 and 10 to 15 inclusive, including the territory between Sixth and Ninth streets and Phillips and Minnesota avenues. This plat was called "J. L. Phillips Sioux Falls" and was recorded August 10, 1871, in book 1, page 1. In June, 1879, he removed his family to Sioux Falls and resided for three years in the building formerly used as the officers quarters; from there they removed to the corner of Phillips avenue and Eleventh street, where he resided until his death, June 12, 1882.
Upon the incorporation of the village of Sioux Falls in 1877, he was elected one of its trustees, and was re-elected in 1878 and 1879. Although a good physician and surgeon he practiced but little after coming to Sioux Falls. While in the army, and during his march to the sea under General Sherman, his eyes became greatly inflamed, and he never fully recovered from this disability. Owing to this fact, and the time he necessarily had to devote in caring for his large business interests, he refused to answer professional calls when the services of other physicians could be procured. He was an outspoken, upright man, and always manifested a lively interest in public affairs. He was taken sick on Saturday the 10th day of June, 1882, and, as stated above, died on the following Monday. His loss as a husband, father, neighbor and citizen was keenly felt, for in all these relations, he was a kind and honorable man.
SOURCE: Dana Reed Bailey, History of Minnehaha County, South Dakota, p. 663-4
