Main office of Huntington Bank in Dover, formerly the Reeves Banking & Trust Company.

Empire Detroit Steel, formerly Reeves Steel in Dover.

Home of Samuel Reeves, Jr., located next door to the J.E. Reeves Home.

J.E. Reeves death notice headline in local paper.

Local radio station WJER, Dover, founded by J.E. Reeves daughter Agnes Reeves-Greer, who choose call letters to honor her father.

Reeves Hotel (Circa 1947)
Downtown New Philadelphia

Mr. Reeves was born in Dorsetshire, England, in 1845, spent several years in Wales, and emigrated to America in 1867. While living in Wales with his family, he mastered the trade of boiler maker and structural iron worker. In 1869, Reeves married Jane Rees, a native of Carmarthenshire, South Wales.

With his brothers, he organized the Reeves Boiler Works in Niles, Ohio in 1873. In 1882, Jeremiah and his brother Jabez became interested in the Dover Rolling Mills, which had begun operation in the 1860s, but had an unstable, up and down operation. The two Reeves brothers sold their interest in the family Boiler Works. They remodeled the Dover mill in 1883 and operations of the new Reeves Iron Co. were begun with Jeremiah Reeves heading the firm and Jabez as plant superintendent. By 1896, the Reeves firm had 850 workers and was one of the largest industrial employers in the area.


In the early 1900s, Jeremiah Reeves and his son Samuel Reeves Sr., sold the local mills to the American Sheet and Tin Plate Co., a subsidiary of U.S. Steel.

But the family was not out of the iron and steel business. Early in 1901 the Reeves Manufacturing Co. was formed by Samuel Reeves Sr. and A.J. Krantz. Within a short time, Samuel Reeves Sr. had died and his father assumed a more active role in the firm. It manufactured galvanized sheet steel, metal building materials and sheet metal specialties.

Jeremiah E. Reeves continued to branch out into other endeavors, which included the founding of the Reeves Banking and Trust Company (now, Huntington Bank locally) in 1903, continuation of his late son's interest in the streetcar line (acquiring control in 1905), and the purchase of a hotel in New Philadelphia, operated as the Hotel Reeves.

In 1904, Mr. Reeves donated land on Iron Avenue for Union Hospital which was planned to serve Dover and New Philadelphia.

In 1912, the Reeves Manufacturing Company bought the Dover Forge and Iron Co. Four new mills were erected and the new fabricating plants were added.

In later years, the Reeves traveled frequently including many trips to Europe. They also acquired a winter home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Mr. Reeves died on July 11, 1920 in Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 75. At the time of his death, the assets in Mr. Reeves' estate was estimated at $1,414,668.00