Southaven to honor Jon Reeves with plaque in Tribute Hall

Southaven will honor pioneering homebuilder Jon Reeves as its next name on its tribute wall at City Hall.

Reeves played a prominent role in the city’s development since 1963 when he began his career with Allied Investment Company, which later became Allied Mortgage and Development Company. Allied provided utilities, home construction, and mortgage services for many of the first homeowners in Southaven.

“As I honor the special people who’ve made exemplary contributions to Southaven in our history, none span more than Jon Reeves,” Mayor Darren Musselwhite announced in his Mayor’s blog on March 2. “He began serving our citizens in the community of Southaven in 1963 and is still invested in our business community today.”

After serving in the U.S. Army, Reeves and his future wife were looking for a place to start a career and was offered his first civilian job by Cary Whitehead, head of Allied. Whitehead saw potential in Reeves and made him is “go-to” man on any business ventures, including building Holiday Inns around the country. Reeves assisted in building Allied’s new office building which later became the current City Hall. 

In the late 1960s, Reeves began building homes in the Greenbrook and Carriage Hills subdivisions in Southaven. Musselwhite said Reeves would go on to become owner of one of the largest homebuilding companies in the history of Southaven.

“While on the east coast overseeing hotel construction, Mr. Reeves and his new bride built their first home,” Musselwhite wrote. “Before construction was final, they had an offer from a prospective buyer. Since their home was not for sale, Mr. Reeves agreed to build another home just like it for that person, which resulted in a third request. Then, as we say, the rest was history.”

Reeves and fellow Allied employee, Bob Williams, started a produce company called “The Marketplace,” at the location of the original Allied offices on Highway 51. They closed the business and moved into the homebuilding industry as R&W Builders, which lated became Reeves-Williams. 

After selling Reeves-Williams in the early 2000s, Musselwhite said he continued to develop both residential and commercial properties in Southaven and has been a mentor and friend to countless other business people in the city.

Reeves said he still has people approach him and and say ‘hey, you built my home.’

“I’ve always been a part of Southaven from the beginning, and 90 percent of my life has been Southaven,” Reeves told Musselwhite.

Reeves is the second resident to be honored with a plaque on the wall in Tribute Hall, joining Vernon McCammon, the city’s first fire chief.