Reno, Joseph Jannone "Joe" (Gaetano Iannone)
1866-1942 | Merchant
Gaetano Jannone Iannone (also known as Gaetano Iannone) was born in Compobasso, Italy, on January 4, 1866.[1] John P. Bagoy, in Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (2001), recounted that Gaetano became known among his acquaintances as “Joe Reno” after his arrival in Anchorage in 1923 rather than by his original surname. When he was asked why he used the surname Reno, his explanation was that when he worked for the Alaska Railroad the paymaster could not correctly spell or pronounce Iannone. The paymaster chose to use Reno instead, and the surname stuck. However, he used the surname of Reno in 1910, when he identified himself in the 1910 U.S. Census as a resident of Girdwood, Alaska.[2]
Iannone (Innone) began studies for the priesthood, but gave them up and immigrated to the United States, first arriving by transatlantic steamer in New York, New York, on September 10, 1880. In Utah, he met Lauretto “Laura” Pesco, who was born in Palermo, Sicily on August 15, 1884 and was living with her family in Salt Lake City. After a long courtship, Gaetano and Lauretto were married there in 1904. The Iannone's first child, Mary, was born in 1904.
After the Iannone’s second child, Florinz “Floyd”[3], was born in 1906, they left Salt Lake City, and landed in Seward, Alaska. Gaetano Iannone saw Alaska as presenting him with an opportunity to establish himself in business and as a great place to raise a family. He decided that Girdwood would be a good location to establish a store and roadhouse. In 1915-1916, there were a total of fifty residents, with "Jos. Reno" listed as U.S. postmaster, and operator of a general store and roadhouse.[4] Originally known as Glacier City, the town of Girdwood was founded as a small distribution settlement for placer miners during the Turnagain gold rush of the 1890s on the north side of Turnagain Arm. In 1896, it was renamed Girdwood in honor of James Girdwood, an Irish immigrant and linen merchant who staked the first four claims on Crow Creek and formed the Crow Creek Alaska Hydraulic Gold Mining Company.[5]
In 1915, Anchorage was selected as the construction headquarters for the Alaska Railroad. By midsummer a substantial tent city had sprung up at the mouth of Ship Creek with a population of several thousand people. During the construction of the Alaska Railroad, the town of Girdwood became the site of a construction camp for the south district of the line. Reno had expanded his operation by building a good-sized, log-cabin roadhouse and store, and business was good during the construction years.[6]
By 1922, Reno and his wife, Lauretto "Laura," had seven more children: Jessie (born in 1907); Lela (born in 1909); Margarette “Margie” (born in 1911); Adeline “Addie” (born in 1913); James (born in 1916); Elvera (born in 1920); and Virginia (born in 1922).
After the Alaska Railroad was completed in 1923, Reno and his family moved to Anchorage. He opened a general store on the corner of 4th Avenue and C Street, in Anchorage, in 1924. He sold general merchandise and miscellaneous clothing, but mostly groceries, with Italian specialties. His business was listed as "Joe Reno (Grocer), 308 Fourth Avenue," in the 1935 Anchorage Telephone Directory. With the large family he now had, he was never wanting for help in the store. The family kept their business on this corner until 1937, when they moved one block down the hill to 3rd Avenue and C Street, where he had purchased an existing building and small store from a man whose name was Bauman. [7]
Lauretto Pesco Iannone (Reno) died on October 18, 1936. Reno built a small hotel next door to his store, which he operated until his death on March 31, 1942, in Seattle, Washington.[8] They are both buried in the Catholic section of Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery. They were survived by their nine children, Mary Iannone (Reno) Agbaba (1904-1997); Floyd (1906-?); Jessie Iannone (Reno) Corliss (1907-?); Lela Iannone (Reno) Johnson (1909-?); Margarette (“Margie”) Iannone (Reno) Weseman; Adeline “Addie” Iannone (Reno) Hausman (1913-?); James (1916-?.); Elvera Iannone (Reno) Sidars (1920-.); and Virginia Iannone (Reno) Johnston (1922-.).
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![Lauretto "Laura" Pesco Iannone Reno (1884-1966) and Gaetano Jannone Iannone [aka Joseph "Joe" Reno] (1866-1942).](/media/2413/550.jpg)
Endnotes
[1] The dates of birth for Gaetano Jannone Iannone (Innone), also known as Joe Reno varies. In the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, the name and date of birth engraved on his tombstone marker is Joseph Jannone Reno, January 4, 1866. See, Joseph Jannone Reno, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed September 22, 2016). The petition of naturalization was filed in the Court of Common Pleas, New York, New York, under the name of Gaetano Innone, and gives his date of birth as October 20, 1865. The Master Burial List for the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery gives his date of birth as August 15, 1884. See, Master Burial List, Joseph G. Reno, Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, Municipality of Anchorage, Anchorage, AK [database on-line], http://hhs.muni.org/MPCWebMap (accessed September 22, 2016).
[2] John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage: Publications Consultants, 2001), 251-252; and Joseph Reno, Glacier Creek [Girdwood], Cook’s Inlet Recorders District, Alaska, ED 5, page 1B, National Archives Microfilm Publication T624, Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Roll 1750, 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed September 22, 2016).
[3] The spelling “Florinz,” appears to be the spelling used for their first son, Floyd, in the 1910 U.S. census. See, Florinz Reno, 1910 U.S. Census, Glacier Creek [Girdwood], Cook’s Inlet Recorders District, Alaska, ED 5, page 1B, National Archives Microfilm Publication T624, Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Roll 1750, 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed September 22, 2016).
[4] Entry for Girdwood, Alaska, in R.L. Polk and Company, Alaska-Yukon Gazetteer and Directory, 1915-16 (Seattle: R.L. Polk and Company, 1916), 263, http://ancestry.com (accessed September 22, 2016).
[5] Elizabeth Tower, Anchorage: From Its Humble Beginnings as a Railroad Construction Camp (Fairbanks: Epicenter Press, 1999), 21.
[6] Joseph Reno, Glacier Creek [Girdwood], Cook’s Inlet Recorders District, Alaska, ED 5, page 1B, National Archives Microfilm Publication T624, Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Roll 1750, 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed September 22, 2016); and entry for Jos. Reno, Girdwood, AK, in R.L. Polk and Company, 1923-24 Alaska-Yukon Gazetteer and Business Directory (Seattle: R.L. Polk and Company, 1924), 451, http://ancestry.com (accessed September 22, 2016).
[7] Anchorage Telephone Directory, 1935 (Anchorage: Public Utilities Department, January 22, 1935), 12.
[8] “Joseph Reno Laid to Rest Beside Wife,” Anchorage Daily Times, April 20, 1942, 7.
Sources
This biographical sketch of Joseph ("Joe") Jannone Reno (Gaetano Iannone) is based on an essay which originally appeared in John P. Bagoy's Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage: Publications Consultants, 2001), 251-152. See also the Gaetano Iannone [Joe Reno] file, Bagoy Family Pioneer Files (2004.11), Box 4, Atwood Resource Center, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Anchorage, AK. Photographs courtesy of the Iannone (Reno) family. Edited by Mina Jacobs, 2012. Note: edited, revised, and updated by Bruce Parham, September 22, 2016.
Preferred citation: Bruce Parham, “Reno, Joseph Jannone ‘Joe’ (Gaetano Iannone),” Cook Inlet Historical Society, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, http://wwww.alaskahistory.org.
Major support for Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, provided by: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Atwood Foundation, Cook Inlet Historical Society, and the Rasmuson Foundation. This educational resource is provided by the Cook Inlet Historical Society, a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt association. Contact us at the Cook Inlet Historical Society, by mail at Cook Inlet Historical Society, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, 625 C Street, Anchorage, AK 99501 or through the Cook Inlet Historical Society website, www.cookinlethistory.org.