Benjamin Rush Strong was born to Joseph Churchill and Sophronia Marrs Strong in Knox County, Tennessee, on March 24, 1847. B. R. Strong studied at Spout Hollow, Walnut Grove Academy, the University of Tennessee, and Eastman's Business College in New York. He began his business career by investing in a sawmill with his brother-in-law, W. O. Monday, but sold his share after six months. He then invested in a store in Ellistown. Construction exhausted his finances, and to earn money to buy stock, Strong taught school in Spout Hollow. He later moved to Straw Plains and finally to Knoxville where he opened a shop on Market Square. Strong eventually took on a partner and changed the store's name to Strong & Co. He ultimately sold the store and entered the real estate business with W. M. Epps and Barnabas Braine under Strong, Braine, Epps, Monday, & Nelson. Strong was also active in banking and wrote articles for local papers under the pen name Gnorts (Strong spelled backward). Strong died on March 2, 1915, in Florida and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

Strong was a staunch supporter of public education; his will included grants to the University of Tennessee for the construction of a women's dormitory named after his mother, Sophronia Strong, and for the acquisition of an agricultural campus. Other bequests were directed to seven county school systems, the Knox County Industrial School, and also provided for the construction of an art center museum.