The Renziehausen story Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Renziehausen family settled in the McKeesport area in the mid-1800s. The patriarch, Gottlieb Renziehausen, a tailor, emigrated from Germany and arrived in New York in 1853.
He and his wife, Sophia Evert, had four children -- Louisa, Frederick, Henry and Emilie. Gottlieb operated a haberdashery in McKeesport, which his son Henry took over after his death in 1865. The other brother, Frederick, who had diabetes, operated a successful distillery that bottled the "Large" brand of whiskey, from the Large section of Jefferson Hills. Profits from the distillery became the foundation of the Renziehausen fortune, much of which was left to Emilie, who never married. (Edit: Emilie was known as Aunt Millie to the Reiber/Beyer family.)
The Renziehausen name is well known in the McKeeport area, with the city's main park named in memory of Sophia Evert. The brothers also made donations for three playgrounds on the North Side of Pittsburgh in their mother's name. Emilie cared for Frederick for 20 years, until his death in 1930 at age 72. She attended educational sessions on care and diet at the Battle Creek Sanitorium in Battle Creek, Mich.
After Emilie Renziehausen established the ward at Children's Hospital in 1937, she underwrote the Renziehausen Memorial Lectures. Dr. Charles Best, who assisted in the discovery of insulin for diabetes treatment in 1921, opened the endowed series at the Mellon Institute.
She also donated to Children's a family home on the distillery property in Large to be used as a convalescent center for diabetics who were failing in strength.
Old newspaper clippings of this convalescent home showed sunlight pouring through the window where sills were lined with dolls and soldiers and other bright-colored toys. Years later, this building became the Stephen Slater Funeral Home.
-- Marilyn Bates
Renziehausen Park
Renziehausen Park was created when Henry Renziehausen donated the land (and perhaps money too) for this park.