Byron Reed - Biography

Biography

Reed was born in Darien, Genesee County, New York. While he was attending the Alexander Classical School, Reed's family moved to Darien, Wisconsin. At the age of 20 he took a job as a telegraph operator, working in Warren, Ohio until 1855. He also served at the Register of Deeds for Trumbull County during this time.

Reed came to Omaha in late 1855, the year the city was founded. By the early 1860s he had accumulated a variety of land holdings across the city. As Omaha became an important gateway to the West and its economy boomed, Reed became very rich and assumed a prominent position in the business and political affairs of both the city and the state. In a time when correspondents were frequently targeted as targets, Reed was working as a correspondent of the New York Tribune and traveling throughout southern Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri to cover the Border Ruffians battles.

In March 1856 he opened an office in the old State House building in Downtown Omaha and established a real estate business. Within three years the business was incorporated, and Reed's business was regarded as successful. That year he acquired the land surrounding the Prospect Hill Cemetery, and ten years later he donated it to the City of Omaha. Reed was instrumental in the formation of the Forest Lawn Cemetery Association and brokered the turn over of Prospect Hill to it in 1885.

Throughout the rest of his life Reed was a surveyor, abstractor and land developer, creating many of the subdivisions that grew around downtown Omaha.

The company he founded in 1856 is still active in Omaha today.