Biography of Daniel G. Reid
by Sue King, ©2023
Daniel Gray Reid was born in 1858 just west of Richmond, Indiana on the National Road, to Daniel Reid and Anna Gray Reid. The elder Daniel Reid was quite prominent in Richmond’s early history, serving as Postmaster for many years, and owning several businesses and farming operations. The father died when Daniel was 15 years old, and the youngster started working at the Second National Bank as a messenger boy. He rose quickly, and within a few years was named cashier, ultimately becoming a Vice President of the bank.
He was a very active man in many business pursuits in addition to banking, including real estate development. In the early 1890s a national economic change would change Dan Reid’s life and alter Richmond’s history as well.
Congress passed the McKinley Tariff in 1890, and one of its provisions was to place a high duty on imported tin plate in order to promote domestic tin plate production. Before this, nearly all tin plate was imported from Wales. Reid, and his boyhood friend and business partner, William B. Leeds, started a factory in Elwood, Indiana that was eventually quite successful.
By 1898, Reid, Leeds, and their associates had combined most of the tin plate manufacturers into the American Tin Plate Company, headquartered in Chicago, with Reid as its president.
Just a few years later, J. P. Morgan was creating the giant conglomerate of United States Steel, and American Tin Plate Co. was one of the companies that made up the new corporation. This transaction made Daniel Reid an extremely wealthy man.
Country Estate of Daniel G. Reid, Irvington, New York
In the next few years, he engaged in the lifestyle of a New York millionaire; he had a mansion on 5th Avenue, a country estate in Irvington, NY, his own private rail car, a yacht, and frequent European trips. While he remained on the Board of US Steel, he sold most of his stock and purchased shares in the Rock Island Railroad. By 1910 he was one of the richest men in America.
As for his personal life, he married his childhood sweetheart, Ella Dunn, in 1880 and had two children, Rhea and Frank. Tragedy struck before the turn of the century as Frank died of diphtheria at age seven in 1896, his mother died in 1898, and Ella died in 1899. The following year he married Clarisse Agnew, but she died in 1904. He married Mabel Carrier in 1906, and they remained married until 1919 when she divorced him, providing tabloid-fodder to papers across the country. His constant companion in his last years was a Pekinese dog named Wiggie.
Even though he lived the high life he always considered Richmond his home. He lavished an unknown amount of money on a variety of projects and causes when called upon, as he often was. He gave gifts to Earlham College, the Richmond Art Association, and many churches. He provided $15,000 to the YMCA for the construction of the building on the southwest corner of North A and 8th on the condition the community raise $70,000, which it did. He purchased the land and built the original building of what would become Reid Memorial Hospital. The city was required to create an endowment, and the interior was fitted out by community groups.
Unlike these examples of responding to requests for assistance, Reid himself initiated the construction of the church on the northwest corner of North A and 11th. The Reid Memorial United Presbyterian Church was the congregation in which he had grown up, and in which most of his family had been leaders. He paid for everything in it, and he spared no expense. The famed Tiffany Studios in New York City designed the interior – wood carving, mosaic tile – and every window is Tiffany Art Glass. He installed a Hook & Hastings organ, which was the top of the line at the time.
After years of ill health, Reid died in January 1925 at age 66. There was a lavish funeral at his home in New York City, before his body was brought back to Richmond. His final funeral was held in the church he built before his body was interred in his mausoleum at Earlham Cemetery.
The hospital building Reid had constructed no longer exists and the YMCA building has been repurposed, but even though the congregation has disbanded, the church still stands. Now known as The Reid Center, it is becoming a community entertainment hub, hosting a variety of concerts and events.
