James A. Reardon
With Compliments of the
Compiler and Editor
Francis O'Neill
Gen Supt Police
Chicago
J[anuary?] 5th 1904
Biography: James A. Reardon (b. July 17, 1859 in Quincy, Ill, parents born in Ireland; d. May 7 1918 in St. Louis) was a successful St. Louis businessman. By 1901 he was president of the Reardon Manufacturing Company, which began as a glue works and later expanded into the manufacture of "cold water paint, sandpaper, etc." He was active in the organization of the Irish exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. To that end he spent at least six weeks in Ireland, 1903-04, engaging crafts people and musicians to come work at the Fair, and selecting art and craft objects to to be sent to St. Louis for display. He married Margaret Kilcullen in 1883. They had at least six children.
For more on Reardon, his relationship with Ireland, and his plans for an Irish exhibit at the World's Fair, see The Gael (An Gaodal), New Series vol. 23 no. 2 Feb. 1904 p. 75.
Thanks to Nick Whitmer for this biography and his extensive research.
Provenance: Washington University in St. Louis, University Libraries, Gaylord Music Library Special Collections. Thanks to Brad Short, Music, Performing Arts, Film & Media Studies Librarian, who writes "Our O'Neill volumes were part of the Ernst C. Krohn musicological library that came to the University in 1966."
