Born in Savoy, Massachusetts, February 27, 1805, young Philo learned medicine and the pharmaceutical trade in Troy, New York in the drugstore of Amatus Robins.

Shipping ahead a supply of drugs and medical equipment, he moved to Chicago, then an unincorporated village clustered around Fort Dearborn.

Philo and Ann Carpenter's arrival in Chicago was a small turning point in the area's history, because they came into town in a fancy carriage.

This was the first pleasure vehicle to arrive in Chicago, and the Carpenters' trip in such a carriage demonstrated that the area was safe from Indian attacks.

Carpenter invested heavily in real estate in the area surrounding what is now LaSalle Street and Wacker Drive, but the Panic of 1837 wiped him out, and his creditors took all of the land he had purchased.

[2] In 1838, Carpenter helped to form and lead the Chicago chapter of the American Anti-Slavery Society, along with Dr. Charles V. Dyer, Robert Freeman, and Calvin DeWolf.