With his brother Lorenzo Niles Fowler, he opened a
phrenological office in New York City. Orson wrote and lectured on phrenology, preservation of health, popular education and social reform from 1834 to 1887. Lorenzo and his wife
Lydia Folger Fowler lectured frequently with Orson on the subject of phrenology. The three were "in large measure" responsible for the mid-19th century popularity of phrenology. The practice of phrenology was frequently used to justify slavery and to advance a belief in African-American inferiority. Fowler wrote that coarse hair correlated with coarse fibers in the brain, and indicated coarse feelings; that, he wrote, suggested that people of African descent had poor verbal skills and traits that were best suited for nursing children or waiting on tables. At the same time, the phrenological journal edited by Fowler and his brother expressed strong abolitionist sentiments, calling slavery a "a monstrous evil." Fowler's writings were also anti-Semitic. For instance, in "Hereditary Descent" (1843), Fowler wrote that Jewish people were hereditarily acquisitive, deceitful, and destructive (phrenology believes that none of these "organs" are negative as such, but all can be used for good). Orson edited and published
The Phrenological Journal,
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, from 1838 to 1842. He was a partner with
Fowler & Wells, publishers, New York, from 1846 to 1854, residing in
Fishkill, New York, and
Elizabeth, New Jersey. His sister,
Charlotte Fowler Wells, and her husband, were involved in the publishing house, and after it became a stock company, she served as president. He built a home during 1848–1853, later termed
Fowler's Folly, which was an
octagon house overlooking the
Hudson River. He authored a book,
The Octagon House: A Home For All, which claimed benefits to living in such a home, and which was instrumental in igniting a fad that spread fairly widely in the United States and Canada. He moved his office to
Boston,
Massachusetts, in 1863, residing in
Manchester from 1863 to 1880. He resided in
Sharon, New York, from 1883 until August 18, 1887, when he died. ==Personal life==