Thaddeus Reade

Thaddeus C. Reade (1846-1902) served as president of Taylor University from 1891 to 1902 and led the institution’s relocation from Ft. Wayne to Upland in the summer of 1893. Born with a strong work ethic, he paid his own way through college with his axe, clearing several acres of fields in northwestern Ohio for the plow, and for a time he was a circuit riding minister in that region. Shortly after taking the Taylor presidency, while preaching in the Upland Methodist Church, Dr. Reade met Rev. John C. White, and the two men, along with J.W. Pittinger, worked to move Taylor to Upland during the Gas Boom, aided by local citizens who provided $10,000 and 10 acres of free land. The family of Jacob Bugher, who helped found Upland, was also closely involved in the move. In Taylor’s early years at Upland, most students lived in private homes, classes were typically held in the Methodist church, and Reade kept the president’s office in downtown Upland for several years. He wrote a biography of Samuel Morris, helped construct the first Morris Hall dormitory, and sustained the university with a substantial portion of his own money, including proceeds from that biography, to pay faculty salaries and cover other costs. The first dormitory in Upland, Samuel Morris Hall, was built in 1894 through Reade’s personal generosity. He became the namesake of the Reade Memorial Liberal Arts Building on Taylor’s campus and Reade Avenue in Upland, and he is buried on campus just west of Helena Memorial Hall.

Upland, Indiana · United States