Joseph "Diamond Joe" Reynolds

Joseph Reynolds was born June 11, 1819 in Fallsburg, New York. He was the youngest of six children, and of Quaker ancestry. He was married to Mary Morton, who was born about 1820 in Thunder Hill, near Rockland, Sullivan County, New York [1]

Mary's father was generous and affluent; Mr. Morton promptly bought young Reynolds a flour-and-feed mill which paid good dividends. When this structure burned down, Reynolds built the finest mill in the region. The new mill was a great financial success. [3]

The Reynolds moved to Chicago. Joseph established a tannery on West Water Street. He traveled through Wisconsin and Minnesota, buying hides and furs. He received the nickname "Diamond Jo" at this time. There was another J. Reynolds in the same business in Chicago, and their shipments became mixed. Joseph Reynolds conceived the idea of establishing a trademark. He marked his next shipment with his nickname "Jo" inclosed in a diamond. Ever after he was known as "Diamond Jo". [4]

In 1860 Diamond Jo Reynolds entered extensively into the grain business along the Mississippi, moving to McGregor, Iowa, and made his home there. Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds had one son named Blake who was born in McGregor their first year of residence there. Blake died at 25 years of age. Joseph and Mary Reynolds gifted a fountain and a park to the town of McGregor in memory of Blake. [5]

In April 1875, he began building the Hot Springs Railroad between Malvern, Arkansas and Hot Springs. The railroad was sometimes called the "Diamond Jo Line" for its developer.[6][7]

"Diamond Jo" Reynolds died of pneumonia at the age of 71 on February 21, 1891 in his tent at the Congress Mine in Congress, Arizona.[8] After his death his estate was valued at between $8 and $10 million completely debt free. His estate included real estate, steam packets, grain elevators, mining properties in Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, and the Hot Springs Railroad, a 24 mile long narrow gauge line running from Malvern, Arkansas to Hot Springs, Arkansas.[9]

A photograph of Diamond Jo Reynolds can be found in the Sharlot Hall Museum Library and Archives entitled "Diamond Jo Reynolds at Congress Mill, Congress, Arizona ": photo link

W. C. Handy includes a reference to the Diamond Joseph Line in his song Saint Louis Blues: "You ought to see dat stove pipe brown of mine / Lak he owns de Dimon Joseph line."

References

  1. ↑ Palimpsest, State Historical Society of Iowa, April, 1970
  2. ↑ North Iowa Times newspaper, McGregor, Iowa, January 1, 1880
  3. ↑ Palimpsest, State Historical Society of Iowa, April, 1970
  4. ↑ Palimpsest, State Historical Society of Iowa, April, 1970
  5. ↑ University of Chicago Biographical Sketches, Vol 1, by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed, 1922, pg 225-243
  6. ↑ "Shortline Railroads of Arkansas" by Clifton E. Hull, University of Oklahoma Press, 1969 http://www.oupress.com
  7. ↑ Encyclopedia Dubuque, http://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php?title=DIAMOND_JO_LINE
  8. ↑ Arizona Republican newspaper article, Feb. 27, 1891, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020558/1891-02-27/ed-1/seq-4/
  9. ↑ Arizona Republican newspaper article, Mar. 26, 1891, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020558/1891-03-26/ed-1/seq-1/