Excerpt from the New Castle News - http://www.zwire.com/news/ Reis family's fame extended beyond county's borders Apr 1 2000 1:58AM By Bev Zona: Special to The News (This is the first in an occasional series about some of the houses on the North Hill that will be demolished to make way for a new high school and the impact their original inhabitants had on New Castle.) Growing up in New Castle, you were always aware of the many fine homes that dotted the city streets. Some were empty and created an aura of mystery, others made your imagination race as you pictured yourself in fancy dress attending an elegant party - dancing on the sweeping veranda-style front porches. One by one the homes began to disappear as the rush to the suburbs and urban renewal began to take their toll. Some that are still standing are in the newly created historic district on the North Hill. Fifteen homes are about to be destroyed to make room for a new suburban-style high school and parking lot. It is easy to physically describe a building. The Reis house at 318 East St., built around 1875, is a two-story, wood residence showing Colonial revival influence. But what does that tell you about the people who lived there and why they are so important to residents of New Castle and the United States? The Reis family and the history of iron and steel in Lawrence County are interwoven with the fabric of the community. George Columbus Reis was born Nov. 8, 1823, in Pittsburgh. He and A.B. Berger started out in the grocery business there. Later, Reis moved to Niles, Ohio, where he became involved with James Ward in the iron business. In 1863, with Berger and William H. Brown, he purchased the Oraziba Iron Works on Neshannock Creek in New Castle. They rebuilt and enlarged the firm and renamed it Reis, Brown and Berger. Once the largest in the country, the company had its own brick yards where it made and fired the bricks for many buildings of that time, including the First Christian Church on Kennedy Square in New Castle. The company was later named the Shenango Iron Works. In 1846, Reis married Elizabeth Dithridge, daughter of Edward Dithridge of Fort Pitt Glass Co. in Pittsburgh. The marriage produced 11 children. Two died in infancy leaving six sons, John, William, Jared, George, Edward and James; and three daughters, Rosena, Lydia and Mary Ann. When George C. and Elizabeth Reis moved to New Castle, they lived on Falls Street near East Street. Later this home was moved to what is now 318 East St. It was turned so that what was originally the front porch is now the back porch on that home. Additions were made and it became the home of James Ward Reis. In 1879, the elder Reis purchased a farm in Minnesota and an iron furnace in Iron River, Mich. The Reis family became important, internationally renowned members of the iron and steel community, but they paid a heavy personal price. In 1887, George C. Reis was killed at the age of 64 in an accident in the railroad yards at his furnace in Iron River. At that time, he was the senior member of Reis, Brown and Berger; vice president of the New Castle and Franklin Railroad; president of the Keystone Iron Mining Co. of Marquette, Mich.; vice president of Shenango Iron Co.; and a director of the United Savings Bank of Pittsburgh. George C. Reis' six sons continued in the iron and steel industry. Edward, who began in the business at an early age, became manager of the Rosena Furnace, a blast furnace on South Mill Street. In 1897, when he was 34, Edward Reis was injured in an explosion at the furnace; he died a week later, leaving a wife and one child. Edward Reis had lived at 322 East St., next door to the family home. Two years later, tragedy struck again. James Ward Reis, who was manager of the National Steel Co. in New Castle, was overcome with fumes after an accident at the plant. That developed into pneumonia and he died in December of that year. He was 35. He was survived by his wife, Eleanor Crouch, and three children, James Ward Reis Jr., Harriet and Elizabeth. Another accident during the shipment of a crane at National Steel resulted in the death of 20-year-old James H. Brown, the son of Mary Ann Reis Brown. The funerals for Brown and James Reis took place on the same day. A private service was conducted for James Reis at the family home at 318 East St. and a private service for James Brown was conducted at the home of John Reis on Highland Avenue at Stewart Place (now owned by Highland House). A public service for both men took place at the William Reis home on East Street near the senior high school (remembered today as the Lt. Gov. Brown mansion). The funeral cortege to Oak Park Cemetery was led by workers from National Steel. According to the New Castle News of Dec. 20, 1899, "Those present represented every station in life, from the laborer to the millionaire. Many tongues were spoken by those assembled, but words of sorrowful regret were uttered by all." The family continued its work in the steel business. At the time the local companies were acquired by U.S. Steel, John Reis became district manager in what was known as the Shenango Valley District. By 1905, U.S. Steel considered him so valuable he was called to the corporate office in New York City to be assistant to the president, William C. Corey. During the bitter furnace men strike of 1906, John Reis was called to New Castle to moderate the strike fairly. At the time John Reis was manager of the Shenango Valley District, he lived at the old Berger home, set to the rear of where the New Castle High School is now. When John Reis retired from U.S. Steel in 1926, he was vice president. He died at the age of 83 at his home in Somerville, S.C., survived by his wife, Lucy Lair, and three children. William Reis had been president of Shenango Valley Steel at the turn of the century and when the company merged with the National Steel, he became president of National Steel. Like his brother, William moved to New York City when National merged into U.S. Steel. While living in New Castle, William Reis was an organizer and first president of the Lawrence Club. He died in Pasadena, Calif., at the age of 93. William's son, George C. Reis, also gained national recognition in the 1930s as a national motorboat-racing champion, winning three consecutive gold cups with his boat, the El Largarto. William Reis built the home some people remember as the Lt. Gov. Brown mansion on East Street behind New Castle Senior High School. The home was sold to the school district in the 1960s, razed and the property is now used as the practice field for the marching band. Jared Reis lived most of his life at 318 East St., sharing the home with the widow of his brother and her family. An expert in the coal and coke industry, he had been an assistant to the president of the H.C. Frick Co. and later worked for U.S. Steel. Jared Reis was an active sportsman. As a member of the Pennsylvania Game Commission he introduced the ring-necked pheasant into Pennsylvania. He also introduced the Hungarian partridge as a game bird in the commonwealth. At his death in 1947 at the age of 91, the New Castle News called him "the Dean of Pennsylvania Sportsmen." According to the family, Jared Reis was also an avid gardener, but he was troubled by rabbits that would eat the lettuce and other delicacies. He solved the problem by enticing the furry creatures into box traps, then taking them out to the woods and releasing them into the wild. In 1903, George L. Reis oversaw the change of the U.S. Steel works in south Chicago. At that time he was in charge of the massive improvements at that plant. Rosena Reis, for whom the Rosena Furnace was named, married Louis T. Kurtz, son of Davis B. Kurtz, a prominent local lawyer. The Kurtzes, though world famous, are best known in New Castle for their home, at the corner of East Washington Street and Croton Avenue, which was torn down in 1963 to make a parking lot. Louis and Rosena moved into her brother, John's, house on Highland Avenue. They had one child who died in infancy. Louis, with all the promise of a young lawyer making a name for himself, died suddenly at the age of 42. Rosena later married New York attorney Richard Newcombe. She died in 1959, outliving the furnace named for her. The smoke stack there came down in 1928. Lydia Reis married Eugene Richardson, son of a former sheriff. She died in 1898 at the age of 35, leaving one daughter. Mary Ann Reis married Olig Brown. Her one son, James, was killed in 1899 at the same time her brother, James, died. Another son, George Reis Brown, continued to work in the steel industry - retiring from U.S. Steel. Mary Ann died in 1911 at the age of 59. Two of the children of James Ward Reis continued to live in the community. Harriet married attorney Norman A. Martin and lived on Fairfield Avenue until her death in 1970. James Ward Reis Jr., a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was a mining and agricultural engineer and consultant for Northrup Industries. He died in Los Angeles at the age of 84. Elizabeth Reis continued to live in the family homestead until shortly before her death in 1993. Her home became the gathering place for the Reis family. It was there where many of the happy and sad occasions of a large family took place. Elizabeth faced many challenges in her life. Her father died when she was a baby. At the age of 6, she was bitten by a stray dog suspected of having rabies. At that time, there were only two doctors on the East Coast to give the rabies treatment. Both of them had studied under Louis Pasteur. The family took her by train to Baltimore, where she received the life-saving shots. Her mother, older sister and Uncle Jared all died at her home. Elizabeth's mother, Eleanor Crouch Reis, though a widow for many years, was noted for her fine parties. The New Castle News society pages of that era are filled with articles about those events. She lived to be 93. Although Elizabeth was a sophisticated world traveler, she was always active in the community. She was the first president of the New Castle Girl Scout Council, formed in 1927, and continued to be active with the Girl Scouts. She worked tirelessly in the sewing guild at Jameson Hospital, for her church - Trinity Episcopal - and the Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts. Many people marvel at the beautiful clothing collection at the Lawrence County Historical Society. This collection would not be possible without the foresight of the Reis family, who had saved two outfits from every era and donated them to the society. Elizabeth spent many hours helping archive this clothing. She also shared her memories of parties she or other members of her family attended wearing these glamorous outfits. Elizabeth was very independent. She regularly attended historical society meetings, but would balk at accepting a ride, saying she was "perfectly capable of walking two blocks." With her death in 1993, at the age of 94, the home which had remained in the family since 1875 passed to another owner. The only members of the Reis family still living in Lawrence County are Frederick McKee of New Wilmington, great-grandson of Edward Reis, and his daughter, Joanne E. Moose of Volant.