REINFRIED, Joseph R.

Family History: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lleschan&id=I68298

REINFRIED, Joseph R. (Dubuque, IA, Oct. 11, 1848--Oct. 22, 1918). Reinfried, associated with the Dubuque Fire Department in one form or another for over fifty years, served as the chief of the department longer than any other person--a total of twenty-nine years. He joined Mechanic’s Company No. 3 as a “torch boy,” and later became a member of Protection No. 2. He served as its foreman as long as he was a member of that company. (1)

Reinfried served as a member of the part paid, part volunteer department for two years and eight months. He was a driver and watchman. He resigned to enter the grocery business, but remained a volunteer until May of 1884 when he was appointed Chief of the Department to succeed Chief John Drehouse. Reinfried could be considered the first Chief of the paid department, as it was known at the time, except for the fact that Drehouse served the first four months of 1884. Reinfried served in this capacity until 1887. In 1886 he served as third vice-president of the Iowa Fireman's Association. (2) He again was appointed Chief of the Department in 1889 and served until his death in October 1918. He lived long enough to fulfill his dream of a fully motorized department. The ladder trucks were the last two apparatus to be motorized in 1918. (3)

Reinfried has been called the "father of the Dubuque Fire Department." Among his many accomplishments, he was responsible for the complete transition from horse-drawn to motorized apparatus. The first "automobile engine," nicknamed "Jumbo," was placed in service in 1910 and died the year the aerial truck became motor driven. (1) He expanded the Department from three companies to seven and oversaw the construction of four new engine houses. Reinfried was also an innovator; he was the first to purchase and use a chemical engine in 1890 and replaced the hose wagons with combination chemical-hose wagons. (4)

Chief Joseph Reinfried was a strong disciplinarian who enjoyed the respect, admiration and love of his men. Under his command, men approached fires with confidence and reassurance that the man directing them knew what he was doing and would keep them out of “Harm's Way.” (5)

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Source:

1. "Dubuque Takes Pride in Its Fire Department," Telegraph-Herald and Times-Journal, August 24, 1930, p. 62 (Link: http://www.dfdhistory.com by William K. Hammel)

2. "Caught on the Fly," The Herald, February 14, 1886, p. 8

3. "Dubuque Takes Pride..."

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.