1903-1907 W.J. Reid & Co. Defiance Lantern

W.W. Chown made a lot of Defiance lanterns for jobbers, companies that bought wholesale and had the manufacturer put their name on the product, W.J. Reid & Co. was one of those jobbers. Located in London and Belleville, Ontario, W.J. Reid & Co. specialized in crystal glassware, lamps, tinware, and china. Their location in London on Dundas street was nicknamed ‘Reid’s Crystal Hall’ because of the crystal glassware on display. Obviously they also made an order of lanterns to add to their lines. Since Chown was located in Belleville, along with the second branch of W.J. Reid & Co., it was easy for them to supply their lanterns for Reid.

Disaster struck for the company in 1907, when renovations being done to the crystal hall caused the whole building to collapse, and fall outward onto Dundas street. 40 people were trapped in the rubble and tragically 8 died. The event became known as the ‘Reid’s Crystal Hall Collapse’. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find if W.J. Reid closed following the disaster, but with Chown stopping lantern production in 1908, the date for this lantern likely falls before 1907. A great write up on the disaster can be found here.

The man behind the company, William J. Reid, was an important figure to London, Ontario. He was the president of many social clubs, a mason lodge, chair of the western fair association, and founder of Labatt park in London (originally named Tecumseh Park), where he built a baseball diamond and started the Tecumsehs baseball team. The park is now home to the London Majors. The company he ran can be traced back to 1837, when it was started by his father.