Archives West Finding Aid

Michael Reinig, founder of the Reinig Company, was born in Deidesheim, Bavaria, on March 31, 1835, the son of Jacob and Frances Reinig. He learned the baker's trade in his home town and then as a young man left for New York, where he joined an expedition heading for California by way of Havana and the Isthmus of Panama. From California, Reinig traveled to Oregon and Washington. In 1865 he left The Dalles, Oregon, and traveled to Helena, Montana Territory, by way of Spokane and Deer Lodge. He almost immediately went to work for the San Francisco Bakery on State Street and a few months later bought the business. He gradually expanded the operation to include a boarding house and a grocery on the corner of State and Joliet Streets, and eventually added a stable on Warren Street, a coffee business, and a saloon in East Helena. In 1904 Michael decided to take a trip to visit his birthplace in Germany. As part of his preparations he incorporated as the Reinig Company. Management of the company was given to William C. Bardon, who also continued to operate the company after Reinig's death. The store ceased business c. 1958.

In 1869, Michael Reinig married Matilda, a Norwegian native who had come to the United States at age three and had moved to Helena in 1868. They had a son Charles N. Reinig (born 1871) and a daughter Anna (born 1873). Michael was a Mason and was active with the Harmonia Gesang Verein, a German club in Helena. Michael Reinig died September 19, 1909, and Matilda Reinig died June 23, 1934.

Their son Charles N. Reinig was born March 22, 1871. He studied dentistry in Pennsylvania and then practiced in Latin America for several years. He returned to Helena in the mid-1890s and became a partner with Gus Ehrenberg in the Montana Cycle Company and clerked in his father's store until 1900 when he moved to Seattle. After Michael Reinig's death Charles N. Reinig served as president of the company until 1935, but continued to reside in Seattle. He died September 29, 1958, in Winslow, Washington.

William C. Bardon was born in Florrisant, Missouri, June 2, 1870. He moved to Helena in 1889 and went to work as a delivery boy for the Reinig grocery. He gradually rose in the business until he took over management of the store in 1900. He continued to serve as vice-president and manager after Mike Reinig's death in 1909. He became president after Charles N. Reinig resigned in 1935. Bardon, along with other Helena merchants, formed the Merchants Delivery Company as a cooperative arrangement to share delivery services. On September 11, 1907, William married Anna, daughter of Michael and Matilda Reinig. William Bardon died January 24, 1955, and less than four months later his wife Anna died on May 17, 1955.

William Eicke was born in Leibnau, Hanover, Germany in 1828. At the age of 18 he moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and worked as a baker. There he married and had one son. In the Civil War he refused to join the Confederate forces and was imprisoned in Richmond. He bribed his way out and left for California. Leaving his wife and infant son there he joined Michael Reinig at The Dalles, Oregon, and later in Helena. In California his wife heard that he had been killed by Indians at The Dalles and remarried. Eicke worked for the Reinig store and lived with the Reinigs for forty years. He died June 1, 1911.