Philander Chase Knox was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, one of nine children of Rebecca (née Page) and David S. Knox, a banker.
He was named after the Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase.
He attended public school in Brownsville, graduating at the age of fifteen.
He attended West Virginia University for a time, and then Mount Union College, where he graduated in 1872 with a bachelor of arts degree.
While there, he formed a lifelong friendship with William McKinley, the future U.S. President, who at the time was a local district attorney.
Knox then returned to Brownsville, and was occupied for a short while as a printer at the local newspaper, then as a clerk at the bank where his recently deceased father had worked.
Soon he left for Pittsburgh, and studied law while working at the law offices of H. R. Swope & David Reed in Pittsburgh.
Philander Chase Knox was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, one of nine children of Rebecca (née Page) and David S. Knox, a banker. He was named after the Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase. He attended public school in Brownsville, graduating at the age of fifteen. He attended West Virginia University for a time, and then Mount Union College, where he graduated in 1872 with a bachelor of arts degree. While there, he formed a lifelong friendship with William McKinley, the future U.S. President, who at the time was a local district attorney. Knox then returned to Brownsville, and was occupied for a short while as a printer at the local newspaper, then as a clerk at the bank where his recently deceased father had worked. Soon he left for Pittsburgh, and studied law while working at the law offices of H. R. Swope & David Reed in Pittsburgh.
Philander C. Knox