History 21 The Podcast - 4.20 Ghosts at the Music Store
More Ghosts abound in Anoka! Rebecca wandered into the music store on Main St. on the hunt for ghost stories and met Jerry Olson from Twin Cities Music Repair. He shared the mysterious happenings that he’s witnessed, and his connection to past Reynolds Music owner, John Reynolds.
Host Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator and Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director.
John Reynolds Obituary
by Jonathan Yong - as printed in the Anoka UnionHerald Jan 10, 2019
Musician and businessman John Reynolds helped many budding musicians experience the joy of playing an instrument in the past 30 years.
Reynolds, who founded Reynolds Music in downtown Anoka more than three decades ago, died New Year’s Eve at age 83.
He is remembered as an “Anoka icon,” according to Anoka Area Chamber President Pete Turok, and he gave music lessons and rented or sold instruments to countless students over the years.
“We have third-generation people – their parents rented them instruments, and then they rented instruments, and they’re renting their kids instruments,” said longtime Reynolds employee Gary Erickson.
Reynolds was an Anoka native. The ninth of 10 siblings, he was born Feb. 8, 1935, to Calvin and Georgena Reynolds and grew up on Harrison Street.
Graduating from Anoka High School in 1953, John Reynolds attended the University of Minnesota for two years and then graduated from the Minneapolis College of Music in 1958, according to his nephew, James Jensen.
Reynolds played clarinet and alto saxophone with various bands and orchestras, including the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Curtis Hotel Orchestra and the Lyceum Theatre Orchestra, in addition to a stint in the Army band, according Jensen.
“He was a very accomplished player,” Jensen said. “I call him a world-class musician.”
Reynolds was also a businessman who built his music store from scratch. When he originally bought his shop on Main Street, it was Dowdell Paint.
“He slowly turned it into a music store,” Jensen said.
“He always said he built it a brick at a time,” Erickson said.
Schmitt Music Takes Over Reynolds
In December of 2019 the Reynolds Music store transformed and changed hands to Schmitt Music.
