Gustav Riemer

Gustav J. Riemer (April 26, 1860 - 1922) was an American machinist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who spent a single two-year term as a People's Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.^[1]

Background

Riemer was born in Milwaukee on April 26, 1860. He was educated at the private German-English Academy in Milwaukee, and became a machinist.

Legislative service

He had never held any public office (although he was president of his machinists' union^[2]) until he was elected to the Assembly on the People's Party ticket in 1886 from the 2nd Milwaukee County Assembly district (the Second Ward of the City of Milwaukee), receiving 1,214 votes to 871 votes for Democrat John C. F. Brand, 853 for Republican F. T. Stuewe, and 1 vote for Prohibitionist E. G. Comstock. (Democratic incumbent George Poppert was not a candidate.) He was assigned to the standing committee on roads and bridges.^[3]

He was not a candidate for re-election in 1888, and was succeeded by Republican Frank E. Woller.

Personal life

At the time of his service in the Assembly he was married to Emma Riemer (1860-1910).

He seems to have become involved in speculation in real estate in later years. In 1894, he was involved in arranging the purchase of the Interlachen Hotel on Beaver Lake in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, a transaction which ended up going to the Wisconsin Supreme Court due to a dispute over a verbal contract with the seller (Riemer won).^[4] In 1899, he is reported as the vice president of a Milwaukee & Lake Geneva Electric Railway, which was buying right of way for an interurban railroad.^[5] By 1903, he was described as a "bridge builder" on the St. Paul Railroad, and as making his home in Oconomowoc.^[6]

References

1. "Members of the Wisconsin Legislature 1848–1999 State of Wisconsin Legislative Bureau. Information Bulletin 99-1, September 1999. p. 99 2006-12-09 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Some Milwaukee Notes", Wisconsin State Journal November 4, 1886; p. 1, col. 5
3. Timme, Ernst G., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin 1887 Madison, 1887; pp. 467, 474, 502
4. "Riemer vs. Rice; February 1— May 25, 1894" Wisconsin Reports: Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Volume 88 Wilmette, Ill. : Callaghan & Co., 1895; pp. 16-21
5. "Street & Electric Railways: Milwaukee, Wisconsin" Engineering News and American Railway Journal. New York: The Engineering News Publishing Company, 1899; vol. 42, no. 16, p. 124]
6. Our Local Scribe. "Your Neighbors: Items of Interest Gathered About the City", Watertown News March 28, 1903; p. 5, col. 1