Rhinelander Waldo

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Rhinelander Waldo (born 1877, died August 13, 1927 in Garrison, New York) was appointed the 7th Fire Commissioner of the City of New York by Mayor William Jay Gaynor on January 3, 1910, and on May 23, 1911 resigned his position to accept an appointment as New York City Police Commissioner. He served as the 8th Police Commissioner of the City of New York from May 23, 1911 to the end of the Kline Administration on December 31, 1913.

Waldo was the Fire Commissioner at the time of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire which occurred on March 25, 1911 and killed 147 people. [1]

Organized under the "Office of Street Traffic Regulation Bureau," the "Motor-cycle Squad" was founded by Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo on June 9, 1911, only 17 days after he took office. [2]

He was portrayed by James Cagney in the 1981 film, Ragtime, despite the age difference (Cagney was 81 years old when he filmed this movie; the real Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo was only 32 at the time in which the movie was set).

Preceded by Nicholas J. Hayes	FDNY Commissioner 1910-1911	Succeeded by Joseph Johnson
Preceded by James C. Cropsey	NYPD Commissioner 1911-1913	Succeeded by Douglas I. McKay