George Reynolds Dale (February 5, 1867 – March 27, 1936) was an American newspaper editor and politician. He was best known as the editor of the Muncie Post-Democrat from 1920 to 1936, and as mayor of Muncie from 1930 to 1935. His life's works include the starting of several newspapers and battling bootleggers and the Ku Klux Klan.
In 1932, Dale was convicted of violating Prohibition laws. His conviction was upheld on appeal, but he was pardoned after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Dale was born in Monticello, Indiana. His father, William D. Dale, was a Union captain, in Company K of the 19th Indiana Regiment, during the U.S. Civil War, and his grandfather William Dale settled in Monticello after migrating from Virginia. His mother was Ophelia Reynolds, also of the Monticello area. Both parents were deceased before his eighteenth birthday, his father in 1886 and mother in 1887. Growing up in rural Indiana, he attended local public schools.
He married his wife, Lena Mohler, in Hartford City on January 14, 1900. They had seven children: Mary O., Elizabeth, George R. "Bud" Jr., Martha Ellen, Virginia Ruth, Daniel D. and John Dale. Dale died in Muncie, Indiana.
Hartford City Press
Hartford City Journal
Muncie Post
Muncie Post-Democrat (1921-1950s)
His political career, like much of his life, although brief, was full of controversy. He publicly continued his attacks on both the current corrupt officials and the Ku Klux Klan. He was inaugurated on January 6, 1930, and served just one term. He is well known for his house-cleaning of the Muncie government in which he removed most of the local government and replaced the entire police and fire departments within days of his inauguration.