George Rhea was born in Illinois in 1878. Mr. Rhea came to Bemidji in 1903 as an employee of the Great Northern Railway. He resigned that position in 1907.
“George W. Rhea, who has for the past five years acted as cashier at the Bemidji office of the Great Northern Railway company, is now in the employ of the Lumbermen’s National Bank of Bemidji, where he greets his old friends from behind the polished counters, and is no longer stamping tickets for transportation.
Mr. Rhea sent in his resignation to the railway officials about a month ago, and in the meantime accepted a position with the bank. Up to the present time no one has been sent to fill the position left vacant by the resignation of Mr. Rhea.
Mr. Rhea has a host of friends in Bemidji, and all of them extend congratulations on his entering another, and probably a more lucrative, field. (Bemidji Daily Pioneer, Sept 10, 1907)
George Rhea was first elected to serve as City Treasurer in 1912. When he was reelected in 1917, he received 661 of the 1100 votes cast for the office. In 1919, the local paper reported, “For the position of city treasurer — For the past seven years, Mr Rhea has been elected by the voters of the city to this office, and at no time had any serious opposition, it being generally conceded he was the right man in the right place. Mr. Rhea is too well known to need an introduction to the voters of the city. His re-election is a foregone conclusion, as his record in the service of the city is well known. (Jan 22, 1919)
For 25 years, Mr. Rhea was associated with the Lumberman’s Bank which then became the Northern National Bank. In his last years, he had been associated with the Regional Agricultural Credit Corporation since retiring from the bank. He died in 1939. He was survived by his widow Myrtle Adele Rhea and four children.