By the volume of buildings named for him, Francis Joseph Reitz clearly left his mark on Evansville. One of 10 children in the prosperous German family, he accumulated wealth on his own and ended up giving away half. Ninety-five years after his death, the impact of his donated millions perseveres.
Reitz got his start in the family’s foundry and lumber business. Later, he was a leading banking executive and grew his fortune through interests in two railroads, a furniture business, utilities, and a telephone company. When he died in 1930, his estate was worth nearly $1.1 million — almost $22 million in today’s dollars.
With several siblings, Reitz gave heavily to the local Little Sisters of the Poor chapter, which served elderly residents from 1882 to 2013. He also funded a new wing at St. Vincent Orphanage, which operated in Vincennes until 1972. But Reitz’s biggest impact was on education. An investment of $25,000 — $591,339 today — helped Moores Hill College relocate from Dearborn County to Vanderburgh; it opened as Evansville College (now the University of Evansville) in 1919. First National Bank, of which he was president, also sponsored the bond issued to build a new West Side school. When it opened in 1918, F.J. Reitz High School was named in his honor.
Reitz’s largest gift was nearly $1 million — topping $16 million today — for a new Catholic high school whose construction he helped oversee. Reitz Memorial High School — also bearing his name — opened in early 1925.
His immediate family’s legacy is on display at his father’s French Second Empire mansion in the Riverside Historic District, which now operates as the Reitz Home Museum.
