In 1904 Albert Leff purchased a ranch southeast of Reeder where he had a coal mine, provided groceries and meals, and built a three-story hotel to accomodate the travelers. He also ran the Leff Stage Line which ran 65 miles to Dickinson, which was a nine hour trip one way.
From the fall of 1907 when Milwaukee Railroad officials laid out and named the new Adams County town for a chief engineer E.O. Reeder, to December 1907, when R.A. Lucas built the first building in Reeder, the area burst into activity. In six or seven weeks, a dozen businesses were in place. By spring 1908, that number had grown to thirty-four or more.
