Josef Leopold Gierster

Josef Gierster with his family. Oil painting by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller , 1838

Street sign Gierstergasse

Josef Leopold Gierster (* around 1800 probably in Baden near Vienna ; † December 27, 1863 in Gaudenzdorf , today in Vienna ) was an Austrian brewery owner and first mayor of Gaudenzdorf.

Life

Grave in the Meidlinger Friedhof

Josef Gierster opened a brewery in the Viennese suburb of Gaudenzdorf in 1836, which was also connected to an inn and a large terrace-like garden. The company was located on an area that is now to be found between Hofbauergasse, Anton-Scharff-Gasse, Schönbrunner Strasse and Arndtstrasse, just outside the Hundsturmer line . Within the line wall that surrounded Vienna and the suburbs, the city levied a consumption tax from 1829, which made the consumption of food and drink more expensive than outside this border. The new brewery with its inn soon enjoyed great popularity, as simple people could also have a good time here and eat and drink at reasonable prices.

Gierster soon became a popular and influential figure in the still young community, and he made a decisive contribution to its prosperity. During the Revolution of 1848 , Gierster became captain of the newly established National Guard. When the municipality was allowed to choose its own representatives in 1850, Gierster was elected the first mayor of Gaudenzdorf. He remained in this position until 1861.

Gierster donated the establishment of a local cholera hospital. Before founding a local volunteer fire brigade , Gierster had set up his own plant fire brigade in his brewery , which was also available to the entire community. In 1854 the first gas light burned in his house, a technology that was still new at the time and he played a pioneering role in introducing it. During his tenure, the Gaudenzdorf gas works was founded in 1855.

Josef Leopold Gierster is buried in the Meidlinger Friedhof . In 1894 the former Krongasse in Meidling was renamed Gierstergasse in his honor .

meaning

The kk Hofbräumister and brewery owner Gierster was of decisive importance for the development of the community of Gaudenzdorf and thus also for the history of the 12th Viennese district of Meidling, to which Gaudenzdorf was attached in 1890.

literature

• Friedrich Fischer: Chronicle of the Vienna suburb of Gaudenzdorf , 1927.
• Christian M. Springer, Alfred Paleczny, Wolfgang Ladenbauer: Wiener Bier-Geschichte, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-205-20437-4 , pp. 94-100.