Benjamin A. Riesner was a blacksmith and wagon maker in early Houston. In the 1860s he worked for Maydole & Cline Blacksmiths and in the 1870s he partnered as Cane & Riesner and then Hooper & Riesner Blacksmiths. In 1880 he opened up his own business located at Milam at Commerce streets in downtown Houston. In 1924 he established B.A. Riesner & Son, Co. with his son, Benjamin Jr.

His home until the mid to late 1920s was at 61 Young St. – in 1923 the street was renamed after his son Edmund Riesner, who died in World War I. Benjamin Riesner Sr. died on January 8, 1932 and his son just two years later on January 19, 1934 – both are buried at the Riesner family plot in Glenwood Cemetery.

The area of the home is now the site of the Houston Police Department Headquarters Building. Riesner street ran south from Washington Ave. to Memorial Drive until the Gee Municipal Courthouse was built on Lubbock St., taking over the southern portion of the street. Today, only one small block of Riesner/Young St. remains, just north of the Courthouse.

From the 1882 Houston City Directory:

From the 1905 Houston City Directory: