Einer der wichtigsten Akteure der Innsbrucker Stadtgeschichte war Wilhelm Greil (1850 – 1928). Von 1896 bis 1923 bekleidete der Unternehmer das Amt des Bürgermeisters, nachdem er vorher bereits als Vizebürgermeister die Geschicke der Stadt mitgestaltet hatte. Sein Wirken war nicht nur lange, sondern fand auch in einer besonders dynamischen Zeit statt. Die vier Jahrzehnte zwischen der Wirtschaftskrise 1873 und dem Ersten Weltkrieg von einem nie dagewesenen Wachstum und einer rasenden Modernisierung gekennzeichnet. Es war die Zeit der Eingemeindung ganzer Stadtviertel, technischer Innovationen und neuer Medien. Private Investitionen in Infrastruktur wie Eisenbahn, Energie und Strom waren vom Staat gewünscht und wurden steuerlich begünstigt, um die Länder und Städte der kränkelnden Donaumonarchie in die Moderne zu führen. Die Wirtschaft der Stadt boomte. Betriebe in den neuen Stadtteilen Pradl und Wilten entstanden und lockten Arbeitskräfte an. Auch der Tourismus brachte frisches Kapital in die Stadt.

The political landscape of the late Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was, broadly speaking, shaped by liberal nationalist parties representing the various ethnic groups of the multi-ethnic empire, as well as by conservatives and social democrats. The Catholic conservative party had already lost influence and was considered outdated, retaining support mainly among the petty bourgeoisie and farmers, but in Tyrol it formed a bloc with the reform Catholic Christian Socials. Social Democrats, Christian Socials, and German Nationalists can, in a sense, be seen as the precursors of today’s parliamentary parties SPÖ, ÖVP, and FPÖ. Innsbruck’s municipal council was long dominated by the liberal and Greater German-oriented “German People’s Party,” to which Greil also belonged. What appears contradictory today—being both liberal and nationalist—was a common and functional pairing of ideas in the 19th century. Pan-Germanism was not a political peculiarity of a right-wing extremist minority; rather, especially in German-speaking cities of the empire, it was a centrist current that retained influence in varying forms across almost all parties well into the post-Second World War period. Anyone examining newspaper articles from around the turn of the century will find countless pieces emphasizing the commonalities between the German Empire and the German-speaking territories. Innsbruck residents who prided themselves referred to themselves not as Austrians but as Germans. Only after the incorporation of Wilten and Pradl in 1904 were conservatives able to make gains, though not enough to catch up entirely. Social democracy played hardly any role before 1918. Due to an electoral system based on property classes, only about 10% of Innsbruck’s population was entitled to vote, while women were fundamentally excluded. Within the three electoral bodies, a majority voting system applied—essentially meaning: the winner takes it all. Mayor Greil lived, fittingly, in a manner similar to a Renaissance prince. He came from the upper class of the large bourgeoisie. His father could afford to establish the family’s home base in the Palais Lodron on Maria-Theresien-Straße. Thanks to this electoral system, Mayor Greil could rely on 100% support in the municipal council until the period of the First Republic, which naturally made decision-making and governance considerably easier. Despite the apparent efficiency displayed by Innsbruck’s mayors at first glance, one should not forget that this was only possible because, as part of an elite of entrepreneurs, merchants, and professionals, they governed without significant opposition and without consideration for other population groups such as workers, craftsmen, and employees—in what might be described as an elected dictatorship. The Imperial Municipal Act of 1862 granted cities like Innsbruck, and thus their mayors, greater powers. It is hardly surprising that the chain of office presented to Greil on his 60th birthday by his colleagues in the municipal council closely resembled the chains of orders of the old nobility. Nevertheless, Greil was also a skillful politician who navigated the power structures and media landscape of his time with great adeptness. Article 17 of the Austrian Basic Law of 1867, also known as the December Constitution, guaranteed freedom of expression in the press for the first time without prior censorship—excluding criminal offenses such as blasphemy or insults to the authorities, of course. As a result, a wide range of newspapers emerged, such as the conservative Neue Tiroler Stimme, the social democratic Volkszeitung, and the liberal Innsbrucker Nachrichten, each shaping a worldview in line with the preferences of their publishers. Thanks to the reach of the Innsbrucker Nachrichten, Wilhelm Greil was able to promote his views. Despite sometimes vehement speeches inspired by the program of the German nationalist founding figure Georg Ritter von Schönerer (1842–1921), he managed to come to terms with conservative forces in the region, even though conflicts were often fierce, especially in the media. Issues such as taxation, social policy, education, housing, and the design of public spaces were debated with passion and zeal—often with violence as the ultimate argument.

Under Greil’s leadership and fueled by the general economic upswing driven by private investment, Innsbruck expanded at a rapid pace. Acting in a forward-looking manner like a merchant, the municipal council acquired land in anticipation of future developments. As a politician, Greil was able to rely on civil servants and urban planners such as Eduard Klingler, Jakob Albert, and Theodor Prachensky for the major construction projects of the time. Infrastructure projects such as the new town hall on Maria-Theresien-Straße in 1897, the opening of the Mittelgebirgsbahn, the Hungerburg Funicular, and the Karwendel Railway were implemented during his tenure. Other visible milestones included the redesign of the marketplace and the construction of the market hall. Alongside these prestigious large-scale projects, however, many inconspicuous revolutions took place in the final decades of the 19th century. Much of what was advanced in the second half of the century is now part of everyday life, but for people at the time these changes were sensational and life-changing. Greil’s predecessor, Mayor Heinrich Falk (1840–1917), had already contributed significantly to the modernization of the city and the development of the Saggen district. Since 1859, the expansion of gas pipeline lighting in the city had progressed steadily. With urban growth and modernization, cesspits—used as latrines in building courtyards and emptied and sold to nearby farmers as fertilizer—became unacceptable to an increasing number of residents. In 1880, the emptying of these latrines, colloquially known as “Raggeln,” was transferred to municipal responsibility. Two pneumatic machines were intended to make the process at least somewhat more hygienic. Between 1887 and 1891, Innsbruck was equipped with a modern high-pressure water supply system, which made it possible to supply even upper-floor apartments with fresh water. Those who could afford it now had the opportunity to install flush toilets in their homes for the first time. Greil continued this campaign of modernization with numerous infrastructure projects. The growing concentration of people in increasingly confined spaces, often under precarious hygienic conditions, brought many problems. The city’s outskirts and surrounding villages were regularly plagued by typhus. After decades of discussion, construction of a modern sewer system began in 1903. Starting from the city center, more and more districts were connected to what is now a commonplace utility. By 1908, only the districts of Mariahilf and St. Nikolaus—nicknamed “Koatlackler”—remained unconnected. The new slaughterhouse in Saggen also improved hygiene and cleanliness in the city. Poorly controlled private slaughtering largely became a thing of the past. Livestock arrived by train at Sillspitz and was professionally processed in the modern facility. Greil brought the gasworks in Pradl and the power plant in Mühlau into municipal ownership. Street lighting was converted from gas lamps to electric light in the 20th century. In 1888, the hospital was relocated from Maria-Theresien-Straße to its current site. During this “Innsbruck Renaissance,” the mayor and municipal council were supported not only by the growing economic strength of the pre-war years but also by patrons from the bourgeoisie. While technical innovations and infrastructure were the domain of the liberals, care for the poorest remained in the hands of clerically oriented forces—though no longer directly with the Church itself. Baron Johann von Sieberer donated the old people’s home and orphanage in Saggen. Leonhard Lang donated the building on Maria-Theresien-Straße—where the town hall is still located today—in return for the city’s promise to build an apprentice residence.

In contrast to the booming pre-war era, Greil’s leadership after 1914 was marked by crisis management. In his final years in office, he guided Innsbruck through the transition from the Habsburg monarchy to the republic—a time characterized above all by hunger, hardship, scarcity of resources, and insecurity. He was 68 years old when Tyrol was divided at the Brenner Pass after the war. During his political career, Greil had often exploited general hostility toward Italians (“Walsche”) in a similarly populist manner to his Christian Social counterpart in Vienna, Karl Lueger, who used antisemitic rhetoric. At the end of his career, he had to witness the Italian occupation of Innsbruck. With the introduction of the republic, the census-based voting system was abolished, marking the beginning of the end of liberal dominance in the municipal council. In 1919, the Social Democrats won elections in Innsbruck for the first time. Only due to council majorities and a coalition of Greater German-liberal and conservative-clerical politicians did Greil remain mayor. He died in 1928 at the age of 78 as an honorary citizen of the city of Innsbruck. Wilhelm-Greil-Straße had already been named after him during his lifetime.