Leonard L. Reinig (1839-1910) was a Seattle pioneer, businessman, and real estate developer. Reinig, a native of Bavaria, immigrated to the United States in 1862, and came to Seattle in 1869. In that same year, he opened a grocery and purchased a southwest corner lot at First Avenue and Columbia. On that property he built a two-story building in 1873, which had a large assembly hall that was referred to as "Reinig's Hall." In 1881, the Reinig and Voss Block opened at First Avenue and Marion Street but burned in the Seattle fire in 1889. Leonard L. Reinig and his family moved to Snoqualmie in 1890. He is buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle.
Leonard L. Reinig and his wife, Margarethe Schafer (1850-1933), had three sons: Otto F. Reinig, Dionis G. Reinig, and Edward C. Reinig (d. 1912). Otto, who married Minnie Owens, was a businessman and mayor of Snoqualmie, Washington. Dionis married Hadassah Lorette Knapp in 1910 and had three children.
Papers related to the Reinig family, including building specifications for the Reinig and Voss Block; clippings and notes about Reinig properties, family, and friends; correspondence; deeds; financial ledger from the L. Reinig goods store; Leonard L. Reinig's obituary and passport; postcards; photocopies of the program from a dance celebrating the opening of the Reinig and Voss Block; city tax receipts; and Otto Reinig's schoolbook and financial day book. The papers also include clippings about two other Seattle families, the Parkers and the Pipers. Some clippings, legal documents, and correspondence are written in German, although many of these items are also translated into English.
Also included are photographs of Reinig family members and friends; the "Club Contentment," a group of German-speaking women; the Cascade Tunnel; the Seattle Fire Department circa 1889; Frye's Opera House; and several other unidentified early Seattle scenes.
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Leslie Norton, 2009-05-22