Volunteers Fight Fires for 125 years

A half past midnight on Sunday morning January 12, 1873, the bell of the Free Will Baptist church began to ring.  Someone was calling out for help.  At the sound of alarm, people rushed to the scene of one of Evansville's first documented house fires.

The home of local dentist, Dr. A. H. Robinson, at the northwest corner of Liberty and First Street was in flames.  Those who answered the call of the ringing church bell gathered furniture and other articles carried them out of the building.

The fire was concentrated in the L-portion of the house.  People fought the fire with buckets of water from cisterns and wells.  Some even tried to put out the flames with snow.  Men with ropes and chains tried to pull the burned portions of the house away from the rest of the building to keep the fire from spreading.  When the flames broke through the roof, men with ladders rushed up to the rooftop, while a bucket brigade formed below and passed up the water to douse the fire.  At last the fire was extinguished. The damage to Robinson's house was repaired within a few months.

The Evansville Review called for the formation of a hook and ladder company.  "The fire at Dr. Robinson's clearly demonstrated a need for a company.  Expenses for the company should be supported by the taxpayers."
 
No official organization of a fire fighting unit took place.  Although the loss of property by fire was always a threat, Isaac Hoxie, editor of the Review, seemed to stand alone on the issue of an official fire fighting organization.  The taxpayers saw no need for the expense of having a fire department that needed equipment and an ample water supply to save buildings.

A fire in July 1874, forced citizens to think more seriously about funding a fire department.  On July 6, 1874, about five minutes to midnight, the church bells once again sounded the alarm for a fire.   People rushed about to help with the fire at the home of George Palmer.

No one was home and the fire had made good headway before anyone discovered it.  The first people at the scene rushed into the house and saved as much furniture and personal belongings of the Palmer as they could.  However, they were soon forced out of the building by the flames and heat.

The house could not be saved and the volunteers became worried about the surrounding buildings.  The Palmer house was located about fifty feet north of the Methodist Church and north of the Palmer house was the store of Winston and Bennett.  From the Winston and Bennett store there was a long row of wooden buildings that housed many businesses.

The heat from the burning house was so intense that the paint on the church was blistered.   Fortunately there was only a slight breeze and there were only a few flying cinders.

Fearful that the church and the store would burn, people gathered carpets and carried them to the roof of the church.  Men covered the roof with the rugs that were kept wet by water the bucket brigade passed up through the scuttle inside the belfry.

Water to fight the fire was obtained from two cisterns with a capacity of 500 barrels each near the corner of Main and Madison Streets.  There were also three wells in close proximity to the fire.

A Babcock extinguisher was used to keep the windows and cornices of the church from burning.  (The extinguisher, sometimes called a fire grenade, was a glass bottle filled with carbon tetrachloride or salt water.  The bottles were thrown at the fire and when the glass broke, the chemicals were released to rob the fire of its oxygen.  Today these bottles are collector's items, but are very rare, as they are destroyed when they are used.)

North of the burning Palmer House, men also went to the roof of the Winston and Bennett store and covered it with wet carpets.  Others stationed themselves on the top of the bank building, the Review office, and other stores and houses to watch for flying cinders that might ignite another conflagration.

The Palmer house was a total loss.  Insurance covered $1,000 on the property and $150 on the furniture.

The primitive and unorganized fire fighting fiasco had nearly cost the town several of its major buildings.  There was another cry for organizing a fire company.

Several young men had offered to join the fire department.  The men met and elected officers, which they presented to the Village Board. W. T. Hall was to be President; D. P. Emery, Foreman; George D. Potter, assistant foreman; Perry C. Wilder, secretary and Alonzo C. Gray, treasurer.  They offered their services, free of charge, to the Village Board.

The Review reported that "The young men of the village, who have interested themselves in public and private affairs of the place, since the late fire, have organized a Fire Company and offered themselves as such to the village board, and ask for the necessary apparatus."  Editor Hoxie asked the Village Board to consider the question:  "Shall we accept of the services of the company, and furnish it with an engine and the necessary equipment, with which to successfully extinguish fires and prevent them from spreading in our midst?"

The Village Board was reluctant to take criticism for spending money without taxpayers approval.  They did not offer to provide money for a fire department and equipment.  Instead, they called a public meeting to test the question before the taxpayers.  Should the village purchase a fire engine and 500 feet of hose at a cost of $1,500?

The Review editor campaigned for the fire department.  There were several issues Review editor, Isaac Hoxie, wanted the voters to consider before making a decision about spending money for the department.

Hoxie wrote that some insurance companies would not issue policies to property owners in towns that had no fire department.  Some businesses and industries did not want to locate in a village with no fire protection.  Public buildings, such as the school, had cost the taxpayers nearly $20,000, would be a great loss to taxpayers if they were destroyed by fire.

However, the arguments of Hoxie and those who were willing to become members of the fire department did not convince enough people that there was a need for a volunteer fire department.  Even after the scare of fire and loss of property, the voters turned down the expenditure. It was the first of more than 120 years of struggle for funding between the fire fighting volunteers, the taxpayers, and the elected officials of Evansville.

Of the 101 taxpayers attending the special meeting, 61 voted against the $1500 equipment and 40 voted for.  "Our people would rather risk fire than pay taxes," Review editor Hoxie told his readers.

The volunteer fire department disbanded immediately.  Perry C. Wilder placed an advertisement in the Review announcing that the fire department as dissolved.  "Whereas, this company was organized for the better protection of the village against fire, and while is has the earnest cooperation of many citizens, yet a majority have voted against furnishing the necessary equipment for extinguishing fires, and the services of this company been rejected by a majority of the property holders, therefore, RESOLVED, that the company be, and is hereby disbanded."

Fortunately, there were no major fires for the next three years.  The issue of a fire department rested until early December 1877 when the Spencer House stable caught fire.

Monday evening, December 3, 1877, a young man left the Spencer House hotel and saw flames coming out of the crevices of the stable.  He shouted the alarm and several men rushed into the barn and found that a fire had been set in a bunch of hay piled under a carriage.  The fire was quickly extinguished and because of the smoke, the horses were taken out of the building.  The men left for their homes.

At four thirty the next morning, the bell on the Free Will Baptist church sounded the fire alarm and people rushed out from their homes to find the stable once again in flames.  The building was beyond saving and the fire was spreading.

The wagon-making shop of Stephen Baker and William Garfield was nearby and their storage shed was in flames.  Men went into the building and saved the carriages and some of the other merchandise stored in the building, but it too was beyond help and burned to the ground.

The hotel owner, Martin Case, had insured the barn for $200.  The livery had been operated by Ed Fellows and he estimated his loss at about $1,200, including seven carriages, buffalo robes, feed, and harnesses stored in the Spencer House stable.

During the fire, there was only a slight breeze and it was blowing flames and cinders away from other buildings. Many felt the fire could have been much worse if the fire spread to the hotel and other wooden buildings that housed Evansville's businesses.

The fire in the livery stable convinced the Village Board that they needed a fire engine and a fire department.  They chose a smaller fire engine than many wanted.  The machine arrived on February 15, 1878, according to the diaries of James Powles, one of the local men most interested in the organization of the fire department.  "New fire engine came today, a poor tool," Powles recorded in his diary.

The village board, "with due regard for the purse, did not feel justified in purchasing a larger one at a much greater cost," the February 20, 1878 issue of the Review reported.

The board appointed Board Trustees, Daniel B. Huckins, Byron Campbell and William Garfield to look into the matter of forming a fire company.  Several local businessmen helped build equipment for the first fire company.  A Mr. Conine built ladders for the hook and ladder company and a hose cart was built at the local foundry and windmill factory, A. S. Baker & Co.   The town hall, which stood on the site of the present city hall, was remodeled by adding larger doors so that the fire engine could be stored inside.

When the machine arrived the firemen were anxious to test it.  The men set the machine up at the cistern in back of the bank building and ran out one hundred feet of hose.  With the aid of men working the breaks, a stream of water was thrown one hundred feet on the drug store building at the southeast corner of Main and Madison Street.  Then the men aimed the stream of water onto the roof of the bank and finally across the street to the Central House on the northwest corner of the intersection.

Within three months, the fire engine was put to use.  However, because the Village Board had not yet officially allowed the volunteers to organize a fire department, the first fire with the new engine was a fiasco.

In early April, the cry of fire rang out.  Those who came to help dragged the fire engine to a small house on Railroad Street rented by a Mr. Kohlar, who worked for the Lehman Furniture Company.   They could see flames coming from the roof area around the chimney.

Those who arrived to operate the fire engine found that the coupling wrench and hose nozzle had been misplaced and the men could not get the engine to work.  While volunteers searched for the missing equipment, a bucket brigade worked to try to squelch the flames with water, but the fire was nearly out of control.

When the engine was fixed, the men used the fire hose to drench the flames, but the water from the cistern of the house lasted only a short time.  The new engine was moved to Allen's Creek.  However, in their haste to get the machine operating, the volunteers dropped the suction pipe into the mud.  When the men began operating the hand breaks to pump the water, the cylinders became choked with the mud and the fire engine quit.

Fortunately, the bucket brigade had been able to gain control of the fire and it was put out.  Although the roof and joists in the ceiling were badly burned, the house was saved.

The Village Board was now convinced that an official organization of volunteer fire fighters who were trained to operate the fire engine was necessary.  A special meeting was called and officers were chosen for a Deluge Fire Company and a Hose Company.

The village board appointed James Powles as the chief engineer and fire marshal of the fire department on April 10.  Powles was given power to appoint his own assistant.  "Mr. Powles is an old hand at the breaks and knows a fire engine when he sees one," the Review announced.

By April 17, forty-eight men had volunteered to serve on the fire department.  The volunteers elected the following officers for the Deluge Fire Company: James Powles, foreman; Thomas Wallis, first assistant; Ray Gillman, 2nd Assistant, John Phifer, Secretary and C. M. Smith, Treasurer.  Stewards were Charles S. Wilder, John Frantz, and Charles H. Powles.

Hose Company officers were John Frantz, Foreman; William Quivey, Assistant; John Frantz, Secretary; and W. T. Hoxie, Treasurer.  Charles H. Powles and Frank N. Shurger were elected pipemen.

Regular meetings of the fire department were to be held on the first Wednesday evening of each month.  The foremen could call special meetings.  The firemen drew up by-laws and presented them to the Village Board.

There were few fires in the early days of the volunteer organization.  Chimney fires and cigars carelessly thrown into saw dust piles caused two small fires in 1879.  "Give credit to the fire company for getting around as soon as  they did," the Review reported.  In May 1880, the Baker Manufacturing Company foundry caught fire, but the men at the factory, with help from the fire department, kept the fire from spreading and causing a lot of damage.

The first fire alarm purchased by the village was a large steel triangle that was hung on the eaves of the town hall in May 1880.  A heavy iron sledgehammer was chained to the triangle and a ladder was set up against the building so that someone could climb up to ring the alarm in an emergency.  Small boys were cautioned not to be meddling with the apparatus and spreading a false alarm.

For over a year, there was very little need for the alarm or the fire engine.  Since the village hall was unheated, when the temperatures dropped, the engine froze.  James Powles placed a notice in the newspaper on January 24, 1882, "Attention, Firemen and Citizens--Remember, that from this date until further notice, that our fire engine Deluge is frozen up so it can't be used, so if you hear the Dong take your pails."

Two days later, the machine was still in a frozen condition when the community was hit with a major fire.  A few minutes after 11 o'clock in the morning on January 26, 1882 railroad company employees were moving kerosene barrels in the freight room.

Suddenly fire broke out under the floor near the barrels.  The men tried to put the fire out with brooms, but the floor was saturated with oil and the workers realized they needed more help.  The station agent, Mr. Gosselin rushed into the office to save his telegraph equipment, record books, tickets and money.

Meanwhile, a man standing on the corner of Main and Madison Streets saw smoke coming from the area of the depot and yelled out "fire".  Village marshal, W. F. Williams, climbed up the ladder to reach the alarm on the town hall and rang out the call for help.

At the first sound of the alarm, volunteers responded to the town hall.  Wilbur T. Hoxie was the first one at the engine hall to unlock the doors for the other volunteers.  Liveryman John Reilly hitched his teams of horses to the frozen engine and dragged it to the Lehman Furniture Factory.  There, the firemen thawed the machine by taking water from the factory's boiler and pouring it onto the engine.

Fortunately there was very little freight in the depot, but the combination of the barrels of kerosene and the oil drenched floor made the contents very flammable.  The depot agent gave the inventory as fifteen barrels of kerosene, five boxes of soap, and a box of castings.  When one of the barrels of kerosene caught fire, it quickly spread throughout the entire storeroom.

By the time the fire engine was thawed and the firemen were on scene, there was no chance to save the depot.  The volunteers concentrated their efforts on saving the coal shed and the Johnson & Stevens Brothers warehouse.  A brisk southeast wind blew most of the day and sparks from depot fire flew onto both the shed and warehouse.

When the men were sure the other buildings were safe, they turned their hose onto the crumbling walls of the depot to try to keep the flames from reaching other buildings.  As the fire burned itself out, the firemen kept watch through the night.  It was three o'clock the next morning before the volunteers were able to leave the depot.

The damages were assessed at $3,000, with no insurance.  The firemen were praised for their work in saving the buildings adjacent to the depot.  They "no doubt saved property enough to pay all the expense of purchasing the engine and keeping up our Fire Co. so far," the Evansville Enterprise reported.

During the next two years, fire losses included a barn on South Madison Street that was struck by lightening.  As with the depot fire, the men struggled to save the surrounding buildings.  Although the barn was lost, the firemen were credited with saving the houses nearby.  Another fire was at the home of George Scoville.  The fire was burning around a stovepipe and the blaze was quickly extinguished.

While Evansville residents now had some equipment for fighting fires, people living in the country had very little defense against fires.  Without communication and the ability to travel quickly into the countryside, the local firemen did not respond to fires in the townships.

Several damaging fires were reported in the countryside.  The Van Hise store and home in the village of Union were totally destroyed by fire in July 1882.  In February 1883, the home of John Kennedy in Porter Township was burned to the ground.  The husband was not at home at the time and Mrs. Kennedy escaped with seven of her nine children.  Two little children were trapped in the blazing fire and died.  When neighbors arrived to help, the survivors were found dumping snow on the burning bodies of the children.

Farmers were warned against storing wet hay in their barns.  "Several barns have been destroyed by the spontaneous combustion of damp hay," the August 7, 1883 Enterprise warned.

Even though there were no major fires, the firemen kept in practice with the engine by filling the town cisterns with water.  They drafted water from Allen's Creek to put water in the cisterns near the school and the business district.  To boost the pumping power of the engine, a force pump manufactured at the Baker foundry was placed in the cistern near the corner of Main and Madison Streets in December 1883.

The volunteer fire department was tested with one of its greatest challenges when fire started in the Baker Manufacturing Company at 2:30 a.m., April 16, 1884.  This time Ray Gillman rang the fire alarm on the town hall.  When he feared that there would not be enough volunteers, Gillman ran to the Episcopal Church, groped his way up the belfry tower and rang the bell.  The night watchman at Baker's also blew the steam whistle at the factory.

Townspeople came rushing from every direction at the sound of all the alarms.  Fire was leaping out of the roof of the woodworking shop when the firemen arrived at Baker's.  The men immediately placed their engine on the Church Street bridge and ran out 350 feet of hose to reach the Lehman Furniture Factory, directly east of the Baker shops.  Since the fire had gained so much headway at the Baker woodworking building there was no chance to save it.

Unfortunately, a section of hose burst just as the firemen were starting to pump water on the Lehman's building and the remaining hose was too short to reach.  The firemen then moved their engine to the well to the south of the Lehman Furniture factory.

From this area, they were able to protect the tack and match factory to the south and the Lehman's buildings north of the well.  Cinders were flying from the burning Baker factory igniting some of the phosphorous piles outside the tack and match factory and the buildings of the Lehman's.

When the fire was raging, the firemen made their first request for mutual aid from other fire departments.  Telegrams were sent to the Beloit and Madison fire departments to ask them to send help.  These were the two departments with direct transportation to Evansville on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad.  Madison had already loaded an engine on the train, when a second telegram was sent to each company, telling them the greatest danger was past and there was no longer a need for them to come to Evansville.
 
People who had rushed to the scene of the fire dragged out furniture and machines from the Lehman buildings.  Others stood by, simply watching the spectacle and some ridiculed those who were trying to keep the fire under control.  Bystanders overheard some call the fire engine a squirt gun and a syringe.  However, James Powles recorded in his diary that the "engine done good work."

The Evansville Enterprise editor praised the firemen and chastised the complainers.  "Yes, boys, we say you did well with what you had to do with, and those who talk the loudest about you are the ones who do the heavy standing around."

The loss of property was estimated at $25,000.  Both Baker's and the furniture factory suffered great losses.  "It is the first fire of any great importance we have ever had, and lucky it was no worse.  It will throw a number of men out of employment, but at a season when industrious mechanics need not be idle," the Review editor wrote.

The Baker and Lehman fire had created a great respect for the damage fire can do among businessmen in the community.  Observing the destruction, some took action on their own to provide protection.  The Review owner and Dr. C. M. Smith placed barrels of water near the rear entrances to their buildings and also on the tops of the roofs.  "If other barrels were placed along the roofs of other buildings it would be a grand good thing in case of need," Isaac Hoxie, editor of the Review warned.

On April 25, the Village Board called a special meeting and decided to ask voters to approve the expenditures of $1,500 for a new fire engine.  The voters agreed and at the Board meeting on May 10, the council approved a motion and a new engine was ordered from the Mansfield Machine Works, Mansfield, Ohio.

The new engine arrived on Saturday June 14, 1884 and was tested the following Wednesday when representatives from the company gave the local firemen lessons in its operation.  As in previous tests, the engine was taken to one of the cisterns at the corner of Main and Madison Streets.  The firemen ran out 250 feet of hose and put kindling in the engine's firebox to start the fire in the engine.  In six minutes and thirty seconds from the time the smoke emerged from the stack, the steam engine was ready to pump water.

For thirty minutes, the engine pumped water out of two hoses.  According to the Evansville Review reporter, the test served to satisfy  "the community that with such a piece of machinery in town our dreadful fire of last April would never have reached such proportions."

When the 500-barrel cistern ran dry, the engine was moved to the Main Street bridge over Allen's Creek.   This time, 1,000 feet of hose was attached and the hose was run up Main Street to see of water could be pumped to the downtown area.  Little by little the stream of water was pumped through the hose.  When the engine was at its full power, a steady stream of water was thrown against the Methodist Church and over the steeple, eighty feet above the ground.  The machine's gauge showed 125 pounds of pressure to the square inch.  People, who saw the demonstration, applauded the little engine's work.
 
After the demonstration, the Village Board accepted the machine and gave the Mansfield representatives a check for $1,600, slightly more than they had planned.  "Should the necessity happen, the purchase may prove itself the most economical investment the village has ever made," the Review told its readers.

James Powles continued to serve as foreman of the fire company.   Powles and the other volunteers practiced with the new engine by pumping and filling cisterns for residents.  The only time the machine did not work was with cisterns that were beneath a building.

The fire company officers for 1885 were listed in the local newspaper.  James Powles was chief; Ray Gillman, 1st assistant; Henry Fellows, 2nd assistant, Wilbur Hoxie Secretary, A. C. Gray, treasurer and James Powles, steward.  Daniel Whaley served as foreman of the hose company and appointed Wilbur Hoxie, 1st pipeman and Tom McGoverin, 2nd pipeman.

The men also wanted to have uniforms and decided to hold an ice cream social to raise money.  It was the first benefit the men had ever had.  The firemen cleaned out their room in the village hall, set up tables and served strawberries, ice cream and cake.  Their total receipts were $50.25.  Following the social, Ray Gillman went to Janesville to purchase the material for the uniforms.

Some people began to agitate for a waterworks system.  The Village Board called a meeting to "test the sentiment" of the taxpayers about installing a waterworks system on Saturday night, September 5, 1885.  E. P. Wheeler of Beloit explained that a water works system, with the primary purpose of providing fire protection, would improve the community's chance to attract industry and businesses.

The water works system could be installed for $19,000, according to Wheeler.  The money could be raised by issuing five- percent bonds, payable in twenty years.  The system would include a deep well, a pump and water tower.  Water mains would be laid through the principal streets and fire hydrants located at convenient points.  By the tower pressure, water would be available to any given area within the system covered by the mains and hydrants.

The annual expenses for the system, once it was installed, were expected to be about $1,000 each year.  The railroad company would pay $700 toward that amount and the water fees for residential and business use were expected to cover the additional $300 and the payment of the 20-year bonds.

Several prominent Evansville businessmen opposed the water works systems, including Benjamin Hoxie, C. H. Wilder, and Daniel Johnson.  Some felt that a windmill and a well would serve the same purpose and be much less expensive.

Johnson proposed a resolution against adopting the water works and the voters unanimously voted not to install a water works system.  Once again, editor Isaac Hoxie chastised the people for being shortsighted.  "The people will allow the matter to rest until another decade when our population shall number 3000 or a sweeping fire shall reduce us to a heap of ashes."

After the meeting, someone proposed that the fire department be disbanded.  James Powles resigned his position as foreman of the department.  "Should we have a fire with no efficient, organized company to handle our fire apparatus, there would be an awful blame for some one or ones to shoulder," one newspaper reporter noted in October 1885.

On November 7, 1885, the Village Board reorganized the fire company and once again appointed Ray Gillman as foreman of the fire company and James Powles as Chief of the Fire company.  The charter members of the new company were Ray Gillman, Charles W. Powles, William Campbell, David C. Johnson, W.M Barnum, George Rodd, H. W. Hamilton, Prentice Call, Henry Rose, John Ryan, Charles H. Spencer, Dan Whaley, T. F. Shurrum, George Colier, Joshua Frantz, Charles Winship, Thomas McGoverin, Fred Gillman and Ed Smith.

The Board also voted to buy a Silbie Steam heater for the fire engine to keep it thawed out during the winter months.   Ray Gillman installed the new heater.

In December 1885, the Badger Hook and Ladder Company number 1 was formed.  Albert Snashall became the foreman.  The company was to have a foreman, assistant foreman, secretary, treasurer and a steward.  The steward was to keep the "truck, truck house, and every article appertaining thereto, clean and in good repair," according to the by-laws of the company.

A member of the hook and ladder company had to live within "six squares" of the fire station.  On hearing the alarm, the firemen were to report to the fire house.  The first one to arrive was to act as foreman until one of the officers arrived.  The fire engine could not be taken out until there were four members present.  The first one at the tiller remained in charge of the fire engine until it was returned to the station.

Each fire was recorded as a special meeting of the fire company and roll call was taken of those who were present to fight the fire.  Anyone who missed a fire alarm was required to was required to pay 50 cents and anyone who missed a regular monthly meeting had to pay 25 cents.

At fire practices, the men practiced coupling hoses and pumping water with the engine.  By 1886, the firemen had installed a universal heater in the fire engine and were keeping a small fire in the engine at all times so that it was ready in case of a call.  The men also prided themselves on the fact that they could make a coupling of the hose in four seconds "in fine style."

More cisterns were added in 1886 in the residential areas.  A large cistern was installed on Second Street near C. H. Wilder's barn and another one near the school.  The cisterns were circular pits 20 by 12 feet and 11 feet deep.  Each could hold 500 barrels of water.  The sides of the cisterns were covered with rocks held together by mortar.  Gravel and sand dug out of the pits were used to fill holes in the streets.

The village purchased a new fire bell in April 1887.  A 36-foot bell tower, similar to a windmill tower, was put up, with a large sheet metal vane decorated with a steam fire engine and fireman's ladder.  The 500 pound bell was put into position with robes and pulleys.

All of the practicing and preparation for fires was put to use when the new fire bell rang out on May 2, 1887.  Ray Gillman's livery stable, located behind the bank on North Madison Street was on fire.    The wind was so strong that it blew cinders more than a mile away.   It also blew pieces of boards and cinders onto neighboring houses and at least three houses caught fire and suffered damage.

The Janesville Fire Department was called.  Engine Company No. 1 responded and brought an engine by train to Evansville.  The engine was never unloaded because the local firemen had the fire under control before Janesville's Fire Department arrived.

The merchants along the north side of East Main Street dragged as much merchandise as they could away from the stores because they were afraid the fire would spread to their businesses.   In order to save the business area a Mr. C. B. Hardin's house was allowed to burn. The stable was lost, but the businesses along Main Street were saved thanks to the efforts of the firemen.

The work of the firemen brought many offers of help to purchase equipment and uniforms.  Fundraisers were held for the firemen in 1887.  The men also raised money for their organization.  On November 4, 1887, they sponsored the first fireman's dance at Magee's Hall.  Visiting firemen in uniform were admitted free of charge.  A group of women decided to provide a benefit for the fire department and served a supper.  From the proceeds of the supper, the foremen of the two fire companies received speaking trumpets.  They were triple plated silver and cost $18 each.
 
 
When the fire department received their new steam fire engine in 1884 they kept their hand engine, nicknamed the "Maid of the Mist".  The hand engine company was frequently the first on the scene of a fire.  This crew was designated Fire Co. No. 2 and the steam engine crew, Fire Co. No. 1.

Although the steam engine was more effective in pumping water, it took fifteen minutes for the steam-operated pump to start throwing a full stream of water.  This seemed like an eternity to the people who were watching the burning buildings and waiting for the firemen to begin extinguishing the fire.

On April 30, 1888, fire broke out in the City Meat Market operated by William Finn and Addison Barnum.  The building was a wooden structure on the north side of the first block of East Main Street.  Frank Morse, foreman of the Hook and Ladder Company was the first one to ring the bell calling the men to the fire.  The hand engine was set up at the cistern at the corner of Main and Madison and began to throw water on the fire.

The steam engine was taken to Allen's creek and a line of hose was run up East Main Street until it reached the building.  While the firemen were at work getting the steam engine operating, shop owners and other helped carry goods out of the adjacent buildings.

Fortunately, there was very little wind and it had rained for nearly 48 hours, so the buildings were quite wet.  Sparks still flew onto the wooden awnings of the Magee theater and other adjoining buildings.  The hose on the Maid of the Mist engine was old and rotting.  During the fire, the hose split and firemen tied their handkerchiefs around the hose in order to keep it functioning.   At one point the firemen had to stop operating the pump while they took out a section of hose that was so rotted that it broke with the force of the water pressure.

By quick action, the business block was saved.  However, there were some injuries to fire fighters and those helping to remove goods from the stores. President of the Village Board, Caleb Lee, fell and was injured and Fred McKinney had a badly cut hand.
Ray Gillman, foreman of the steam engine fire company, was overcome by smoke and had to be carried into Dr. John M. Evans' office.

Gillman's wife was one of the onlookers and when she saw her husband being carried away, she thought he had died and became almost frantic with grief.  Mrs. Gillman also had to be taken to the doctor's office.  After a few hours rest, both Mr. and Mrs. Gillman recovered.

When the fire was over, only one store had been lost and the fire department received high praise from the townspeople.  They were given credit for saving the block that contained the opera house, bank, a jewelry shop, hardware store, barbershop, harness shop, and bakery.

It took a near disaster for the village board to realize the poor condition of the equipment used by the Maid of the Mist crew.  Before the embers had cooled, the fire department was promised new hose.

In 1891, the village once again considered building a water works system for fire protection.  Caleb Libby, editor of the Evansville Enterprise and Tribune felt there were less expensive methods of providing protection.  The village was also planning to build a village hall and so the water works system was once again placed on hold as tax payers feared taxes would skyrocket.

However, the new village hall did provide space for the fire engines and equipment used by the firemen.  A special room in the basement of the building was set aside for the fire department with three large wooden doors that allowed easy access to the fire engines in case of a fire.  The fire bell, purchased in 1887, was moved into the tower of the new village hall.

The fear of fire and the hard working fire crews served as an incentive for new members to join the fire department.  By the early 1890s, there were three fire companies, with twelve men in each one.

Fire Co. No. 1 met at the town hall on the first Monday of each month with Ray Gillman as the foreman.  Fire Co., No. 2 met the first Tuesday of each month with Frank Morse as the foreman and the Hook and Ladder Company met on the first Thursday with Albert Snashall as foreman.

Members of the Badger Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 in March 1890 were Frank Hubbard, C. S. Moon, Fred Gillman, Henry Fellows, Frank A. Baker, Jr. M. P. Walton, Fred Barnum, Ed Smith, Luther Frantz, Nate H. Potter, Godfrey Cnare, Frank Spring, Albert J. Snashall, Nay Gillman, A. VanWormer, L. Vannan, I. A. Libby and N. D. Wilder.  On March 5,1890, when the fire company received its tax money for services given in 1889, each man was paid $4.00 for his services.  In addition, the Gillmans owned a livery and received money for the use of their teams of horses to bring the engine to fires and fire practices.

Over the next few years, Ray Gillman, foreman of Fire Company Number 1, assumed a greater role in the fire department and when Evansville changed to a city form of government in 1896, he was given the office of Chief of the fire department.  Gillman was the public's source of safety information and frequently cautioned people against fire dangers.

One fire was started when a businessman put a box of sawdust out to use as a spittoon.  Someone threw a cigar or other flammable object into the box and after closing time, the sawdust ignited, burning the box and a hole in the floor of the store.  Had the night watchman not come along and seen the blaze, the fire could have been worse.  Gillman "thinks it best to caution everybody relative to using such inflammable articles for this purpose", the editor of the Enterprise told readers.

There were relatively few fires in the early 1890s.  There were occasional chimney fires and sparks from train engines that ignited grass or shingles on the roofs of nearby warehouses.  The Maid of the Mist was the first crew on the grounds and usually had the fire out or well in control by the time the steam engine was fired up.
 
The worst fire of the century occurred in the fall of 1896.  "Heaviest Fire Loss in the History of This City: thirteen buildings burned with a total loss of at least $25,000 with scarcely any insurance," the headlines of the Evansville Review declared.  People had been predicting for years that the long rows of wooden buildings in the business district were a fire hazard.  The night of September 26 the predictions were fulfilled.

About 9:15 in the evening, Chief of Police, Charles Brink, saw the fire in the hayloft of a livery stable owned by John Broderick.  The barn was located on land that is today part of the Grange Mall building.  The livery stable, like the neighboring buildings, was all built of wood, with no firewalls for protection.

Brink gave the alarm but since the hay and many of the other contents of the barn were flammable, the fire moved quickly east and west of the stable.  The Maid of the Mist hand engine fire company, the steam engine fire company and the hook and ladder company all responded to the fire.  Before it was over, volunteers had resorted to the old fashioned bucket brigade.

The hook and ladder company worked on the three small houses owned by Flora Winston, on the area that is today occupied by the Eager Free Public Library.  They were only able to save one of the houses and St. John's Episcopal Church, directly south of the Winston property.

The hand engine and the steam engine worked on the buildings to the east of the Broderick barn. According to one reporter, the streets were filled with water and at times the firemen had trouble keeping their footing while handling the heavy hoses.
Word was sent to the Madison and Janesville fire department asking them to respond to help, but they were delayed in making the railroad connections.

In the early hours of the fire, many thought that Evansville was doomed to loose its entire business district, homes and several churches.   Men went into the burning buildings to rescue furniture and store goods.

David Stevens climbed to the top of the Cummings and Clark store on the southeast corner of Main and Madison Street and poured buckets of water onto the west side of the roof of the building.  A bucket brigade worked below to keep him supplied with water.  The Cummings and Clark building was saved by a brick firewall that had been built in 1871 and the efforts of David Stevens and his bucket brigade crew.

Gale winds blew all during the fire and the men worked to keep the buildings to the south of the fire soaked with water.  Some feared that flying embers would ignite buildings on the north side of the street, but as the fire reached the west wall of the corner store, the flames began to die down.

Janesville arrived on the scene at this point and began to give some relief to the overworked local fire department.  Madison also arrived in the railroad yards, but did not have to unload their equipment.

During the fire, the city mayor asked hotel owner Frank Kendall to prepare suppers at the Central House hotel for the firemen.  Kendall served the meals and at their next meeting, the City Council agreed to pay Kendall $15 for the suppers he served during the fire.  Other businessmen also received compensation from the City Council for their work.  Nearly every livery stable owner, except Broderick, brought horses to transport the engines from cistern to cistern.  C. Fuller, Abram Searles, A. M. Van Wormer and John Reilly all received pay for "draying engine".  Charles J. Pearsall, head of the D. E. Wood Butter Company, was also paid $1.40 for the coal that was used to run the steam engine during the fire.
 
After the fire, the City Council passed an ordinance that livery barns or stables could not use candles or other light unless it was secured in a glass lantern.  Other fire codes were passed in the same ordinance regulating the depositing of ashes, bonfires, and maintenance of buildings.

At their budget meeting in October 1896, the City Council allowed the fire department $500 for the next year's expenditures.  It seemed a small amount in comparison to the loss of property that a major fire caused.  Rebuilding just seven of the twelve structures that were burned cost $14,500.  It was more money than the fire department had cost in the nearly 20 years of its existence.

Despite the heavy loss of property, even small purchases had to be referred to a City Council committee responsible for determining expenditures for the fire department.  The fire committee reported that they approved the purchase of two three-gallon Champion fire extinguishers in December 1896.  However, when the department wanted an extension ladder, the City Council referred the matter to a committee so they could determine that they were getting the lowest price possible.  The committee was asked to report back at the next meeting.

Sixteen years after a water works system was proposed, the voters of Evansville approved the building of a 100-foot standpipe that was 12 feet in diameter, digging a deep well, and installation of water mains and 50 fire hydrants with 2 1/2 inch hose connections.

Ray Gillman, the city's fire chief was a strong advocate for the new system because the system would prove very valuable in protecting property from fire.   Gillman noted that the city had good fire equipment but lacked water.  Many of the cisterns built in the 1870s and 1880s were deteriorating and in 1900, William Stevens had purchased the mill pond property and had let the dam go so that there was no water in Lake Leota.

In the late 1890s, the mill race was dry and there had been a drought.  The fire chief estimated that if a major fire broke out, the water in Allen's Creek would last about 20 minutes.

The water system project was no different than any other major building project that had ever faced a Village Board or City Council in Evansville.  There was a major controversy about the whether the cost of the system was worthy of taxpayer support.

A waterworks system proposed by W. H. Wheeler, J. P. Miller and John H. Brown was expected to cost $44,425.  The system included an electric plant.  Since Baker Manufacturing Company had been supplying electricity to Evansville since the late 1880s, the company officials also decided to offer to build a water system at cost of $26,000, including the electric plant.

The major difference in the two waterworks proposal was that the Brown system covered a greater part of the city with water mains and hydrants.  The Brown proposal was accepted.  The voters approved the waterworks system by a two to one vote in a special election held in late July 1901 and the council signed the papers with the Brown Company the following month.

The City hired its own engineer, F. E. Green to oversee the Brown Company's installation of the water works.  The City had purchased three new fire hoses from the Chicago Fire Hose Company for $24.  The firemen tested the hydrants on January 22,1902 and found them all in working order. The firemen were able to have four hoses working simultaneously from two hydrants. In the business district, the streams of water went 80 feet high.  Hydrants in all parts of the system were tested.  The hydrants at Church and Madison threw a stream over the towers of the Methodist Church.

One newspaper reporter said the tests satisfied even the worst skeptics.  Caleb Libby, who several years earlier had opposed the waterworks system, signed up for water service to his residence as soon as it was available and praised the water as some of the purest available from any private well in Evansville.  Libby also noted that those with city water did not have to maintain their own wells and pumps.

Like Caleb Libby, most people were satisfied that they now had a fire protection system as well as a safer water system in their homes and businesses.  In March 1902, the citizens voted to purchase the waterworks system and the electrical plant from the Brown Company for $51,000.

The first real test of the system for fire protection did not come until a year later.  On April 23, 1902, a restaurant on East Main Street caught fire when a gasoline stove exploded.  According to observers, the restaurant building was an "old, dry all wood building and nothing more combustible could be built."

The Magee Theater was directly west of the burning building and when the alarm was given, the theater was filled with people, including several of the firemen.  The theater was quickly evacuated.

The millinery store operated by a Miss Snowden, to the east of the burning building, was also in danger.  Volunteers quickly took the contents of that building to a safe place across the street.

When the fire engines arrived on scene, the men found the lower story of the building was completely engulfed in flames.  The restaurant was saturated with gasoline from the explosion."  The firemen attached four hoses to fire hydrants and within a short time had streams of water trained on the burning building.  With the pressure available from the standpipe, there was no delay in getting water, as there had been when the steam fire engine was used.

Clarence Baker who was in charge of the Evansville Water and Light Department reported that 18,390 gallons of water was used to extinguish the flames.  While the water was being pumped onto the fire, the water system's two pumps were pumping water into the standpipe to replace what was being used at the hydrants.

"There was no apparent effect upon the wells as they seemed to have an unlimited supply of water," Clarence Baker told the Evansville Review.  Baker estimated that if it had been necessary, he could have supplied the fire department with nine streams of water.

The fire was extinguished within five minutes and the building was saved.  Although the damage to the building and loss of contents was estimated to be $1,500, the people were satisfied that the water works system had helped the firemen save the adjacent theater and millinery store.  "What might have been a serious blaze, was quickly put out by the efficiency of the service and alertness of the fire boys," the Evansville newspaper reporter noted.

At the council meeting a month later, Ray Gillman, the fire chief asked for 500 more feet of hose for the department.  The matter was referred to committee number 5, the City Council's fire committee.  The firemen were pleased and surprised that the committee gave them twice as much as they had asked for and ordered 1,000 feet of hose.

Although there was now an improved fire protection system in many parts of Evansville, there was still no protection for rural residents.  When the home of John Robinson, a farmer living less than four miles from Evansville, caught fire in late January 1903, the Robinson family was forced to fight the fire with what few resources they had on the farm.  Fortunately the farm house was saved, but several valuable paintings created by Theodore Robinson, a brother of John, were lost.

There were also sections of the City of Evansville that were not covered by the water system.  Just a few months after the restaurant fire, a home on South Madison was a total loss by fire, because the water works system did not extend to that area of the City.
 
In 1899, the City of Evansville purchased a used LaFrance, third class, steam fire engine from the City of Edgerton.  They paid $800 for the machine and it was described as "a beauty".  They continued to own the Mansfield steamer, and a small hand engine.  Other equipment included 3 hose reels, a hook and ladder truck, 1,200 feet of 2 1/2 inch hose and 500 feet of 2 inch hose.

For several years, Evansville was free of major fires.  Then, a Chicago fire made Evansville firemen and city officials take a closer look at safety features of buildings, especially those where there were large public gatherings.

On December 30, 1903, a fire at the "absolutely fireproof" Iroquois Theater in Chicago killed nearly 600 people.  Many were trapped by inward opening doors.  The crowds rushing to exits pushed against the closed doors and were trapped by those following behind them.

Some tried to exit from the upper stories of the theater by escape doors that had fire escapes or exit stairs.  People trying to get out through these doors had no idea that there were no stairs and plunged onto the hard cobblestones in the alley below.  The only ones who survived were those who fell and were cushioned by the bodies of those who had already fallen to their death.

Four people, two women and two children who perished in the fire had relatives and friends in Evansville.  Miss Grace Tuttle, Mrs. Fred Pond and her two children died in the fire.  The two women were sisters of Mrs. George Clark.
 
As in other cities throughout the United States, the fire made local firemen and city officials anxious about the safety of Evansville's Magee Theater and the Evansville Seminary.  The City Council asked Committee Number 5, the fire department committee, to do an inspection of the theater and school.

After the inspection by the committee, theater owner, George Magee, was required to add another stairway on the west side of the theater to serve as an exit.  At the Seminary, the inspectors found that the exit doors were hung so that they opened inward.  The school was forced to rehang the doors so that they would swing out.

When rumors persisted that the Magee Theater was unsafe, George Magee ordered an independent inspection by William Meggott, a local carpenter-contractor, and Isaac Brink, a brick mason.  The Magee Theater floor and walls were found it to be sound.  According to Meggott and Brink the floor was capable of handling a crowd of 800 people, 200 more than the seating capacity of the theater.  The stairways were examined and also were capable of handling a crowd of people.

For its own protection, the Baker Manufacturing Company asked the City Council to allow Baker to have access to the city's water system with one-inch taps.  The Baker employees were allowed to practice fighting fires under the supervision of the Superintendent of the Water and Light Department.  Having a prepared fire fighting crew at the plant proved to be very valuable for quick response to fires at its own buildings and those of neighboring industries.

Fred Gillman was appointed as assistant chief of the Evansville Fire Department at the April 1904 meeting of the City Council.  His father, Ray Gillman continued to serve as chief.

Others who were paid for services to the fire department in 1903-1904 were James Heffron who served as steward of Fire Company No. 1 and Chris Hanson served as secretary of the same group.  Others who were paid for services on the fire company were Nate H. Potter, W. H. Griffith, John Bly, Bert Baker, H. O. Walton, Calvin C. Broughton, George Dell, Clyde Babcock, Ace Fellows, George Powers, and E. M. Cole.  Liverymen who drew the horse-drawn engines and hose carts to the fires included S. M. Gammon, Charles A. Fuller, Gill VanWormer, and John E. Reilly.

Once a year, the men attended a state fireman's tournament that was held at various locations throughout the state.  The firemen demonstrated their skills in coupling hose, racing fire engines, climbing ladders, and relay races.

For several years, the firemen were called out for small fires that did little harm.  They continued to practice with their steam engine to keep it in working order.  The Review noted in June 1905, "About the only time the engine gets any chance to show off is when out on dress parades."

In November 1905, the fire department was called for its first mutual aid service.  The village of Brooklyn had a disastrous fire that threatened to wipe out the entire business district.  A tank of gasoline in one of the stores had exploded and in a few moments the adjoining wooden buildings were in flames.

The Brooklyn firemen sent out a call to Evansville.  The Evansville fire department loaded an engine and hoses onto a special train and went to the scene of the fire.  Brooklyn had no water system and what water could be obtained from wells and cisterns was inadequate for fighting the fire.  The firemen, including those from Evansville, were only able to halt the fire saving the buildings across the street so that the fire was confined to the buildings on the north side of the street.  Every building on the block was burned to the ground except the bank.

Then on Friday, May 25, 1906, Evansville had two serious fires occur within hours of each other.  The engine purchased in 1899 was finally called into use for its first major fires.

The first call came at 2 a.m. from a neighbor who saw flames shooting through the roof of the house and called the telephone office.  He then went to alert the sleeping occupants of the Wilson residence on South Madison Street.

The women at the telephone office took the call and alerted Fred Gillman, who was also a policeman.  Gillman rang the bell at the city hall to alert the firemen.  The firemen answered the call as quickly as they could, but the fire was already burning out of control when the fire engines and volunteers reached the house.

The men trained their hoses on nearby residences in order to save them, while other volunteers helped drag furniture and clothing from the Wilson home.  Only a few items, including an organ and some furniture were saved before the smoke and flames became too intense for any further rescue.

The men had barely put away their engines and hoses when the next call came.  At 4 p.m. that same day the fire bell rang once again alerting the men to the news that the D. E. Wood Butter Company building on Enterprise Street was burning.

The fire was started by hot tar being used during the construction of a new addition to the building.  Within a few minutes the entire wooden part of the building was in flames.

The three-story structure and the basement were engulfed in flames that spread between the walls, the ceilings and the floors of the building that had been remodeled several times. Firemen tore away sections of the exterior siding so they could reach the fire with their streams of water.  The fire was also very difficult to fight, because the burning butter produced dense smoke and a terrible odor.

Everyone watching the fire worried that it would spread to the nearby Baker warehouses.  Workers at the Baker shop were able to help fight the D. E. Wood Butter Company fire with the equipment that had been installed several years earlier.

The firemen sent telegrams to the Janesville and Madison fire departments to respond to the fire.  Janesville responded by sending some of their best equipment and firemen by a special train and "performed valuable assistance", according to newspaper reports.  The Madison department was told not to respond when the fire seemed to be under control.

During the several hours that the firemen worked to save the brick portion of the D. E. Wood Butter Company and the other nearby buildings, several women volunteered to make coffee and feed the men.

Years later, Fred Gillman and other firemen who fought the D. E. Wood Butter Company blaze would recall this fire and the great fire of 1896 as the most difficult to fight.  The men had no protective gear to wear and fought the fire in whatever they were wearing when the call came.  Before the battle with the fire was ended, their clothing was soaked and their faces were covered with soot and smoke.

In the aftermath of the fire, the firemen contemplated their lack of proper equipment to fight major fires.  The hose had proven insufficient in quantity and some of it was old and rotten.

The Sanborn Map Company from New York City created a map of the city in January 1907.  Insurance companies used the maps drawn by the Sanborn Company to determine fire hazards when underwriting policies for buildings.

According to the 1907 map of Evansville, the fire department included about 40 men.  The fire equipment included three fire engines.  The old hand engine, first purchased in the 1870s; the old Mansfield steamer, which was seldom used; and their newest engine, a La France steamer with a capacity of 800 gallons per minute (later maps read 700 gallons per minute).

Although motor driven vehicles were becoming popular with fire departments in large cities, all of the vehicles owned by the fire department were horse-drawn.   There were three 2-wheel hose carts and one hook and ladder truck.  The fire department had 2,000 feet of 2 1/2-inch cotton hose, 500 feet of 2 1/2-inch rubber hose (noted as being old, by the Sanborn mapmaker); 350 feet of 2" rubber hose.  The department also had 6 five-gallon chemical fire extinguishers.

New members added to Fire Company No. 1 from 1906 to 1913 included John Van Patten (1906); Max Fisher, Jay Brink, Clyde Fisher and Fred Blakeley (1907); D. L. Grabill, the Congregational Minister, (1908); Burr Jones (1910) and Bruce Townsend (1913).

By 1910, more water was available for fighting fires.  The Baker Company improved their fire fighting equipment by installing a 500-barrel water tank on their new three-story warehouse in 1910.  They also added a 750 gallon-per-minute pump.  That same year, the city extended their water pipes to Longfield Street.  In 1912, the city added feeder pipes in the wells to increase the flow of water.

Fire calls to residents and businesses often produced unexpected income for the fire department.  C. J. Pearsall, manager of the D. E. Wood Butter Company and Marilla Andrews, former editor of the Badger newspaper donated money to the fire department.

Other sources of income for the fire fighters were their annual dance and a portion of the city tax revenues.  The firemen were also generous with disaster victims.  They donated the entire proceeds of the 1911 dance, $15.75, to the victims of the November 11, 1911 tornado in Rock County.

One of the first country fires that the fire department responded to was at the Dan Finnane farm (at the corner of Elmer Road and Hwy. 14) north of Evansville.  The farm was rented to Henry Jorgensen and a crew of men was threshing grain when a motor powered blower started on fire. The flames were blown into the barn and stacks of straw stored in the barn caught fire.

Although large numbers of people from Evansville and the fire department went to the aid of the farm workers there was little that could be done to save the barn.  There was no water supply, except the well.  Mayor C. J. Pearsall and a group of men picked up a chicken house and moved it out of the way of the fire, but the fire fighters could not save a new dairy barn, silo, a cattle barn and a horse barn.

In September 1914, the Sanborn Map Company once again produced a map of Evansville.  The volunteer fire department, with thirty-six members still had the LaFrance Steamer as their principal machine.

There was now 3,000 feet of cotton and latex hose, 1 hook and ladder truck, 6, 1 1/2 gallon chemical extinguishers and 2, 5-gallon extinguishers.  The men were called to a fire by the ringing of the alarm bell on the city hall.

In 1915, barrels were also placed in Allen's Creek to allow the fire department to suction water from the creek, without taking mud into their hoses.  The firemen listed in the records of Badger Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1 records of 1915 included Bruce Townsend, Max Fisher, Bert Baker, Jay Brink, Clyde Babcock, Arthur Thornton, A. F. Fellows, Walter Apfel, Nay Gillman, E. M. Cole, Clint Scofield, E. H. Libby, Callie Winston, Calvin Broughton, Fred W. Gillman, H. O. Walton, and Roy Reckord.

A lumberyard fire was considered one of the worst to fight because the burning lumber created sparks that were carried great distances even with the slightest breeze.  Evansville's fire department was called to the Paulson Lumber Company, located at the corner of Maple and Church Streets on September 17, 1915.

The fire started in the southeast corner of the lumberyard and spread through the storage sheds.  Sparks from the fire flew two blocks away, even though there was only a gentle breeze.

The volunteer fire department had six streams of water on the fire.  Then the Baker Company employees brought out their hoses and trained two more powerful streams of water onto the burning buildings.   The fire burned from 7 p.m. on Friday the 17th until nine o'clock the following morning.

Only the lime house and the office building of the lumberyards remained once the fire was finally extinguished.  A house directly south of the lumberyard also caught fire, but with the exception of the siding and roof next to the yard, the building was saved.

The destroyed lumberyard, owned by M. L. Paulson, H. D. Thomas and their wives, was valued at $25,000.   Mr. Paulson expressed his gratitude to the fire department and the Baker Company employees for their "heroic work in fighting the fire."

By the following year, the City Council had agreed that they should purchase a motor-driven fire truck.  The Council approved the purchase of a Studebaker chassis from the Evansville City Garage and fire-fighting equipment was built by the Peter Pirsch company of Kenosha.

The new truck had 2 extension ladders, 1,000 feet of 2 1/2  inch fire hose, and a forty-gallon chemical tank. On the running board were two hand chemical extinguishers.  There were two axes in brass holders, four New York City fire department style lanterns, hook and pike pole, crow bars, door openers and hose shut off.  The total weight of the truck and equipment was 5,500 pounds.

There was a black steel railing the full length of the body of the truck and down to the rear foot board.  The truck had electric lights and an electric starter.  It was painted red with gold stripes and had a twenty-inch bell to warn motorists, pedestrians and horsemen to get out of the way.

City Councilman, Forrest Durner and Nay Gillman, went to Kenosha to get the truck in March 1917.  They stopped in Janesville so that the residents of that city could see the truck.  "It was the object of much admiration, especially with the members of the fire department," the men reported back to the Evansville Review.

Another motor truck was purchased in January 1919 to use as a hose truck.  This was a Ford truck with a siren horn.  The truck carried 1,000 feet of hose and was smaller than the Studebaker so that it could get into alleys and other places that the larger truck could not reach.   As they had with the first truck, when the Ford hose truck arrived "the boys of the fire department were very proudly displaying it around town," according to the Evansville Review.

Now the department could readily respond to country fires.  One of the first calls for the new trucks was on January 29, 1919.  Fred Gillman received a call for the fire department to respond to a barn fire at the Cram farm, five miles east of Evansville on what is today Highway 14.  The farm was rented to Charles Taylor.

Although the fire department arrived too late to save an old barn and small sheds, with the assistance of the chemicals on the Pirsch built fire truck the firemen were able to save a large new barn.

A newspaper reporter praised the work of the new equipment and the fire department. "Here the chemical engine was in its glory and the boys worked like Trojans, and by the use of the long ladders of the fire truck managed to protect the roof and keep the fire away from the new barn."

Following World War I, gas masks that had been used in the European war were available for protective gear for firemen.  In April 1920, the City Council voted to purchase six gas masks.

Evansville's first reported case of arson occurred in May 1920 when the Bellman-Williams Co. garage, located on Madison Street caught fire.  At first it was thought that an explosion of gasoline vapor was responsible for the fire, but it soon became evident that one of the owners, J. S. Williams was responsible.  A month later, Williams was sentenced to five years in Waupun prison.
 
By 1920, there were many Evansville residents who owned their own automobiles.  Where people had once rushed to a fire on foot, they now used their automobiles and in their haste endangered themselves and the firemen.

As soon as the alarm was sounded, residents would call the local telephone office to find out where the fire was located. Then they would get in their cars and try to beat the fire trucks to the scene of the fire.  Those without cars ran or jumped onto the running boards of passing automobiles.  It was during one of these frenzies in August 1920, a citizen was injured.

The firemen were called to a grass fire at the corner of Brooklyn-Evansville Road and Highway C.  People on foot and in cars rushed down West Main Street and bunched together so that it was almost impossible for the fire truck to get through.  Albert North tried to jump on the running board of a moving car and was thrown onto the street.  Fortunately, he had no broken bones, but was badly bruised.

Fire Chief Ray Gillman thought the incident was cause for a warning and placed a lengthy article in the Evansville Review cautioning motorists against getting in the way of the fire trucks.  "All cars, as soon as they hear the alarm, should pull for the right hand curb and stay there till the fire truck gets by and then if they just must go to the fire to go there at a decent rate of speed."  Gillman also warned motorists that if a fire truck hit their cars, no damages could be collected.

From 1920 to 1924 fire damages were kept to a minimum through the early intervention of the firemen.  House fires in the city and in the country brought a quick response from the firemen and their equipment.

In 1922, there was only one fire reported in the Evansville Review for the entire year.  The furnace at the Biglow & Roderick Furniture store at 10 East Main overheated and started the floor on fire.  The fire department's quick response kept the loss on building and contents to $450.

The Biglow & Roderick fire occurred in January and the temperature was 12 below zero, making it very difficult for the firemen to handle the fire hose.  It was the coldest temperature, the firemen had experienced in fighting a fire.

Leaky gasoline stoves, chimney fires, grass fires, and overheated furnace and stove pipes were the main causes of fire calls in the 1920s.  However, city residents knew that even the smallest fire could get out of control.

Citizens generally appreciated the volunteer work of the firemen and the annual fireman's ball was an opportunity for the townspeople to show support for the organization, as well as to have a good time.  In advertising the dance, which was held in November of each year, the Evansville Review noted that Evansville residents should express their appreciation by purchasing tickets to the event.  "The money taken in at these dances in the past has been used to buy something that the fire boys need to make their service to the city more efficient which the council is not able to furnish.  So virtually every dollar contributed goes back into the city equipment for fire protection."

Some fires were more difficult to fight than others were and feed mills fires were very difficult to extinguish.  In January 1924, the Evansville Grain & Feed Co. building caught fire.  The fire already had a good start before it was discovered.  Baled hay and other feed made the fire difficult to fight from inside the building and the corrugated steel siding could not easily be cut to make openings for the fire hoses.

Volunteers were able to haul away hundreds of sacks of flour and feed.  The salvaged feed was stored in a warehouse away from the fire and water damage from the fire hoses.  Regular train service was suspended so that the fire hose that was run from hydrants on East Main Street and across the railroad tracks to the burning building did not get cut.

It is possible that there was some theft of the feed that was transferred out of the building, because a few months later, at the urging of the Commercial Club, Fred Gillman organized the fire police.  The purpose of the new organization was to protect property that was taken from burning buildings, so that it did not get stolen.  The fire police were also to stand guard over the fire hose laid across streets, so that motorists did not drive over the hose and break it.

Gillman was recognized as a natural leader and in addition to his work as Fire Chief and Police Chief, he was also voted Chief of the Fire Police.  All of the other members of the Fire Police were local businessmen and members of the Commercial Club, including L. B. Cummings (partner in the Evansville Grain & Feed Company), Bert Holmes, Robert Antes, Fred Brunsell, Bruce Ford, Wm. Flemming. H. H. Loomis, Arthur Devine, H. A. Langemak, Grant Johnson, Cy Montgomery, Ray Smith, R. L. Collins, Willis Decker, Arthur Dake, Charles Doolittle, Phil Pearsall, Arthur Tomlin, Paul Pullen, Dr. H. M. Fogo and R. E. Acheson.

In December 1926, Evansville lost it's first fire chief.  Ray Gillman died at the age of eighty-four.  The Evansville Review editor eulogized him.  "In the passing of Ray Gillman Evansville loses one of her most loved citizens.  One who has always had the best interests of his town at heart.  It was through his efforts that the first fire company was organized."  Gillman set a record for length of service as chief.  He was a member of the department for fifty years and served as chief for thirty-eight years.

Following in the tradition of his father, Fred Gillman was the second person to serve as chief of the Evansville Fire Department.  In his dual role as fire chief and police chief, Gillman used the newspaper to give safety tips to homeowners and businessmen.  Being prepared for fires was often the focus of news items. A small fire at the Grange Store in December 1926 caused Chief Fred Gillman to issue a warning to businessmen to recharge their fire extinguishers.

Grange owners had prepared for an emergency by placing barrels of water and boxes of sand at various places in the building.  They also purchased soda and acid extinguishers, but had not followed the instructions to keep them recharged.

Many other businesses had also neglected their fire protection devices, according to Gillman.  Although businessmen had purchased chemical fire extinguishers for their stores, they failed to keep them in good working order.  Using the Grange Store fire as an example, Gillman warned others:  "It is a waste of time and money for one to purchase fire extinguishers if he does not intend to recharge them regularly," Gillman told businessmen.

No disastrous fire were reported in 1927 and 1928.  Nay Gillman, Fred Gillman's brother, served as secretary of the Evansville Fire department in 1928.  He recorded 16 fires that were put out by the local firemen.  Most were small fires, but occasionally even small fires resulted in smoke and water damage.  This was the case when the department responded to the D. E. Wood Butter Company on October 29.  The small fire was extinguished quickly, but the smoke from the fire tainted all of the dairy products, causing a $13,633.54 loss to the company.

Fire Chief, Fred Gillman warned residents that carelessness was the major cause of fires and asked that they take more precautions against chimney fires.  "Every fall and winter the fire department is called out to numerous chimney fires, all of which could easily be prevented if Evansville residents would see to it that the chimneys to their homes are cleaned before any fire in a stove or furnace was started."

He also warned that furnaces and smoke pipes could rust during the summer months when they were not in use and cause dangerous fire hazards.  "It is much easier and less expensive to prevent fires than it is to extinguish them."

Although chimney fires rarely caused serious damage, it was a big expense to the city to have the fire department respond.  Gillman estimated that every time the trucks left the fire station for a call that it cost the city an average of $50.  "The city might be relieved of this expense if more precaution was taken in guarding against fires," Gillman responded.

The Sanborn Map Company made another survey of Evansville in 1928 and reported that the fire department had 24 men, a fire chief, and an assistant chief.  They were operating with the Studebaker chemical fire engine, the Ford hose truck, a hose cart, and 4,000 feet of 2 1/2 in hose.  The water system consisted of 66 hydrants in the City of Evansville, 1 1/2 miles of 8 inch water pipe, 2 1/2 miles of 6 inch water pipe and 4 1/2/ miles of 4 inch water pipe.

The City increased its fire protection ability and built a new pumping station 1929 and it was in operation by January 1930.  A new reservoir with a capacity of 400,000 gallons of water was built.   The power station had electric pumps that could be supplemented with a gasoline driven pump so that in case of electrical power outages there would still be water pressure for fires.

"When this work is completed, Evansville will have a water supply and pumping equipment of which it can be proud and of sufficient quantity and quality for Evansville's needs for the next 50 years," E. S. Cary, superintendent of the Water and Light Department told the Evansville Review readers.

The City Council also increased their fire protection equipment and voted to purchase two new fire trucks in late 1929.  One was for city use and the other for country use.

The country truck was ordered from the Chevrolet dealer, Heffel and Jorgensen and the additional fire apparatus was built onto the chassis by the Boyer Fire Apparatus Company of Logansport, Indiana.  The new vehicle was called a triple combination community fire truck.

The new truck cost $5,500.  The Evansville City Council agreed to pay $1,500 and the $4,000 additional money needed was to be raised by subscription from farmers living in the townships of Magnolia, Center, Union and a "few representative farmers living west of the county line in Green County".  The farmers who were asked to cover the cost of the vehicle were connected to the Evansville telephone system and could easily call in a fire alarm.

The new community fire truck had two 40-gallon chemical extinguishers, two 5-gallon water pumps, 75 feet of extension and roof ladders, spot lights, hand extinguishers and an electric siren.  It also carried 1,000 feet of 2 1/2 inch hose.

When the new truck arrived, it was subjected to a battery of tests by the local firemen.  Because it was a state-of-the-art country fire truck, it was the object of much attention as  fire department personnel and government officials from other villages and cities came to view the new truck.

Within a few months after its arrival, local firemen gave demonstrations to twenty delegates from Orfordville and the surrounding townships.  The visitors wanted to inspect the new fire truck, as they were making plans to purchase a similar vehicle.  Six members of the Belleville City Council and their fire chief also came to Evansville to see a demonstration of the truck.

The second truck was a hose truck with a booster pump.  The chassis was made by the Ford Motor Company and ordered from the local Ford dealer, L. L. Thompson.  The new hose truck had a booster pump and 500 gallon tank.

It was fortunate that the two new trucks arrived in 1930 as the city and surrounding farm community were plagued with serious fires that year.  The first fire actually occurred before the arrival of the new hose truck.

A barn at 457 East Main Street, owned by C. L. Montange, burned to the ground and the fire rapidly spread across the alley to the tobacco sheds and cattle barn of E. H. Libby.  Water mains on the east side of town were a great distance from the water tower and the water pumps did not provide a sufficient water supply to fight the fires.  All of the structures burned to the ground.

The loss was estimated at $4,000.  Fire chief, Fred Gillman claimed that had the city's new fire truck with booster pump been available, the barns could have been saved.

The next major fire occurred in July 1930 and was at the old abandoned mill on Mill Street.  The three-story building was owned by Mrs. Charles Van Wart and leased to Eugene Williams.  He was a junk dealer who had rented the building for 18 years and had filled the structure with old newspapers, tools, and other items he had collected.   The old mill and its contents burned to the ground and firemen stood watch for several hours over the fire.

The following a week a large barn near Union, rented by the Torfin Hatlin  burned.  It was already half burned when the Evansville Fire Department arrived so they concentrated on the large tobacco shed and other buildings on the property.  The barn contained forty tons of hay and it was thought that the fire started from spontaneous combustion caused by the fermenting hay.  Firemen were at the scene from 12:30 in the afternoon until 3:30 the next morning.

Fred Gilman praised the work of the new fire engine and stated, "this fire alone, the new pumper payed for itself."  However the loss was estimated at $3,000 for the property owner, Blanche Harper and her renter, Torfin Hatlin.

There were four more fires within the next week.  Another barn fire, a grass fire, and two house fires.  All were easily put out with little damage, but the firemen hoped they would not have to respond to so many calls again.

However, in September there were two more barn fires within one week.  The first was at the Kerin Brothers farms near Cooksville, where the Evansville Department helped the Stoughton Fire Department.  It was 25 minutes after the call that the Evansville Fire Department was able to travel to the scene of the fire.  The barn was a total loss.

The second call in September was at the Paul Gransee farm, south of Evansville.  The fire started in a straw stack from a spark from a gas engine being used to fill the silo.  Although the fire was under control 30 minutes after the firemen arrived, it had consumed the barn, silo, and milk house, as well as 50 tons of hay, and several hundred bushels of oats and barley.
 
The men who fought the fires were paid a small fee annually, based on the number of fires that they had responded to during the year.  There were 12 men on the hose company, but the records for that company, if they exist, have not been located.

The records of the Hook and Ladder Company's twelve men for 1930 showed that Fred Gillman, Nay Gillman, and Clyde Babcock had responded to the most fires.  They were paid $24 each for the year.

Officers of the fire department were often paid a small fee for their services during the year.  H. Lee and Ed Sperry were listed as stewards of the fire department and paid $7.50 for their services during 1930.  The stewards were responsible for keeping the fire trucks and other equipment in working order.

Other hook and ladder company members who received compensation for fire fighting were Leo Brunsell. E. W. Cole, H. B. Durner, Leslie Giles, E. S. Cary, Jay Brink, Bert Baker, Arthur Huseth and H. O. Walton.  Walton also served as the fire department's inspector and checked buildings in the business and industrial district for fire hazards.

The efficient fire department, the new fire trucks and the city's new well and pump house lowered the insurance rates of homeowners and businessmen.  The city's insurance rating was changed from a seventh grade rating to a sixth grade rating by the Wisconsin Inspection Bureau of Milwaukee, who set the fire ratings for Wisconsin cities.  "The purchase of the new community fire truck and its booster pump, has lowered the insurance rate here from seventh to the sixth grade, and has given Evansville one of the best volunteer fire departments in the state of Wisconsin," the Review editor boasted.

Several fires over the next few years were easily controlled by the local fire department.  It was not until December 1935 that the firemen were faced with a major fire.  On a bitter cold day, the Fleming Ice Cream factory burned to the grounds.  Because they had little protective gear, many of the firemen suffered from frozen hands and feet.

Many of the firemen were attending the annual school meeting when the alarm sounded at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, July 13, 1936 and they were called to a fire at the Brunsell and Fellows warehouse on north side of East Main Street.

Nearby were the company's fuel trucks.  Directly east was the Meyers Lumber Yard with stacks of lumber in the sheds.  West of the burning warehouse and across the railroad tracks was the Green & Company grain storage.

Men were able to get the fuel trucks away from the burning building and when the firemen arrived, the put lines at the fire hydrants and into Allen's creek and soon had six lines of hose putting water on the fire.  This time the firemen were faced with sweltering heat and it took two hours of heavy battle to get the fire under control.

At times, flames shot into the air 100 feet and were visible for miles around.  It was estimated that 1,000 people came to watch the fire.  Tons of hay, straw, twine and coke coal fueled the fire.  The volunteers fought the blaze all through the night, constantly putting out small fires in the lumberyard and watching the smoldering hay and glowing coal so that the fire did not start up again.

The fire was one of the first to be documented with pictures in the Evansville Review.  The photographs showed the flames rising high into the air, the front of the building with fire ladders leaned against the second story windows and the charred skeleton of the building.   Only the cement brick front of the warehouse remained.  The loss was estimated at $30,000.

Fire losses, whether in the city or in the country were devastating to the property owners.  In 1939, two rural areas formed their own fire-fighting groups, in cooperation with the Evansville Fire Department.  Although they had no equipment, the men could be on the scene of the fire in their area, before the Evansville Department arrived.

The two farm areas, Pleasant Prairie and Butts' Corners, elected officers and telephone informers.  The foreman of the Pleasant Prairie group was John F. Golz.  Mark Brunsell was elected assistant foreman.  Mrs. Hugh Robinson, Mrs. Grace Brunsell, Mrs. Elmer Allen and Mrs. Austin Hunt were designated "informers" and were to telephone farmers to let them know where the fire was located.

Charles Maas was elected foreman of the Butts Corners group; George Krajack, assistant foreman and Mrs. Ed Turner, Mrs. Charles Maas, Mrs. Ed Ellis and Mrs. Arthur Ellis, informers.  All farmers in the two areas were members of the fire brigades.

Within two weeks after the groups formed, the Butts' Corners group was called to assist at a house fire on the Paul Christensen farm in October 1939.   The volunteers confined a blaze in a bedroom on the second floor of the house until the Evansville Department arrived with their fire equipment.

The late 1930s was the end of an era for the Evansville Fire Department.  By 1938, only two members of the original fire department were still living, Frank Hubbard and A. M. Barnum.  In March 1939, Nay Gillman, who had served on the Evansville Fire Department for 52 years, turned in his resignation at the annual meeting.  He served as the secretary of the hose company at the time of his retirement.

Fire Chief, Fred Gillman, died in 1940.  He had served on the department for 53 years.  Several times during his tenure as chief he was asked to name the most memorable fires. Gillman always referred to the great fire of 1896 and the D. E. Wood Butter Company of 1906 as the hardest fires to fight.

 
For more than 50 years the City of Evansville had depended on a member of the Gillman family to serve as Chief of the Fire Department.  Fred Gillman, described as one of Evansville's outstanding civic leader, was one of the first to arrive at the scene of a fire and one of the last to leave, once the flames had been extinguished.  Gillman was 72 when he died unexpectedly of a heart attack.

Following Fred Gillman's death in March 1940, Ben Bly was appointed Fire Chief at the reorganization meeting of the City Council held on April 16, 1940.  Leslie Giles was appointed assistant fire chief.  Bly was employed at Baker Manufacturing Company for many years and later opened his own plumbing business.

In 1941, the firemen voted to test the fire siren every noon.  This was already the practice in many villages and cities that had volunteer firemen and Evansville firemen decided to adopt the practice also.

The alarm was activated at the City Hall each noon and in case a fire did break out at noon, the siren would sound for a longer period of time, and the fire bell in the tower of the City Hall was also to be rung.  In addition to the siren and bell, the telephone operators also called firemen to respond to fires.  These calls were referred to as "silent alarms".

At the sound of the siren, the telephone operators received many calls asking for the location of the fires from people who were simply curious.  These calls tied up the operators time so that they could not efficiently get their calls out to the firemen who needed to respond quickly.  Several warnings were issued over the years that telephone operators would not give out the locations of fires to anyone but firemen or police officers.  The warnings often were not heeded.

Firemen were rarely called to fight fires at their own homes, but in April 1941, an alarm sent the fire department to the home of fireman Ed Erpenbach.  They found a fire in a log-cabin playhouse Ed had built for his children at their home at 21 School Street.  The small structure could not be saved.

Deaths from fire were rare in the Evansville vicinity.  However, in July 1940, the Evansville Fire Department was called to a car accident.  Three young Evansville men, Ervin Jorgensen, Eddie Trebs and Robert Allen were riding in a home-built racing car when it collided with a truck and burst into flames.  Allen and Trebs were dragged from the burning vehicle but Jorgensen was trapped in the wrecked racer.  When firemen arrived on the scene they extinguished the flames, but could not save Jorgensen.

A storm in late July 1940, brought firemen to the Louis Benash farm near Leyden.  Together with the Janesville fire department, the men fought a barn fire and kept water streams trained on other buildings to prevent the house, machine shed, garage, corn crib and milk house from burning.  Water was pumped from wells at farms near the Benash property and carried on trucks to the fire scene.
 
A new fire truck was purchased as a community fire truck to serve the City of Evansville and the townships of Union, Porter and Center.  It was delivered to the Evansville Fire Department and tested for the first time on Monday, January 5, 1942.

Peter Pirsch and Sons of Kenosha built the truck in 1941.  The pumper and the fire fighting equipment were built onto a Chevrolet truck chassis.  The new truck had a 500-gallon tank, as compared with the 100-gallon tank on the old pumper, and could pump 500 gallons per minute.  The new truck also carried 1,000 feet of 1 1/2 in hose.  The new truck and equipment was considered to have about five times as much fire fighting power as the old community fire truck.

Don Whitmore, Secretary of the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company, had also arranged to purchase new water tanks to supplement the water the fire trucks could carry.   The portable tanks were filled with city water and transported to the scene of the fire on the flat bed trucks.
 
The new water tanks increased the water available to fight country fires.  Drivers and the trucks were supplied by several local businesses including Brunsell and Co., Evansville Feed & Fuel Co., Laufenberg Lumber Company.  The purchase of the water tanks by the insurance company, as well as the donation of the trucks and the drivers by the businessmen were hailed as a display of community spirit.

The tanks were three galvanized stock watering tanks.  Each had a metal cover with a removable cap so that water could be poured into the tanks.  On the end of each tank was a 2 1/2-inch opening with a removable cap for emptying the water out of the tank.

The three tanks were stored on racks with metal rollers located on the east side of Enterprise Street, across the road from the Water and Light Department building.  When the tanks were needed, the trucks were backed up to the racks and the empty tanks were rolled onto the flat beds.   Then the drivers drove the trucks across Enterprise Street to the water pipes at the Water and Light building, where the tanks were filled.  The water was then transported to the scene of the fire.

In April 1942, the Evansville fire department was asked to assist the Janesville fire department in one of the worst fires in Janesville's history.  Firemen Ed Erpenbach, R. Gallman, Leslie Giles and Alvin Olson took the new Evansville truck to Janesville and stayed at the Janesville fire station in case a fire call came in from some other part of the city.

Although the fire department was called out several times in 1942 for minor fires, more routine annual activities also occupied their time.  During the early months of the summer, the firemen held practice sessions and invited auxiliary firemen to practice with the equipment.

In 1942, auxiliary firemen were listed as Herb Coyne, Leslie Patterson, George Winter, Bob Fish, Wilbur Patterson, William Gibbs, Charles Shelby , Otto Guse, William Brown, Roy Sarow, Lyle Taylor and Donald Whitmore.   Several of these men later became full members of the fire department.

The firemen and their assistants took the two pumpers and the hose truck to Allen's Creek and practiced pumping water into the tanks and then pumping it out, as they would for a country fire or an unusually large city fire.  Each week during the six weeks of practice sessions the men took the trucks to the Water Street Bridge, the Main Street Bridge or the city park for training on the equipment.

The annual fireman's dance held each November was suspended for several years during the 1940s because of the World War.  When the dances were stopped in 1942, it was the first time in more than 60 years that the annual fund raisers had not been held.  Instead the men chose to hold a raffle with the prizes being war bonds.  The dances were resumed in 1946.

Cooperation between neighboring fire departments was important during major fires.  Several departments also began to share training sessions.  In 1943, the local firemen hosted training sessions at their room in the basement of City Hall.  Twenty four members of area fire departments were given instructions by Janesville fireman, William Murphy, on ladder use and rope tying.  The local men also went to other fire stations for training sessions.

The firemen were frequently called together to fight fires.  A typical fire that required cooperation happened in November 1944, when Brooklyn's fire department and Evansville's firemen were called to a fire in a cow barn at the Austin Hunt farm north of Evansville.

Both departments responded with men and equipment.  The barn could not be saved, but they were able to protect nearby buildings from burning.  The Brooklyn fire department stayed on the scene from 7 p.m. until 2 a.m. the following morning, and Evansville's department stayed all through the night.

Water was supplied from the Evansville water tanks that were delivered to the scene by William Bewick, driving the Evansville Feed & Fuel truck; Earl Schwartz, driving the Union Implement Truck and Vern Laufenberg with the Laufenberg Lumber Company truck.

Fire Chief Ben Bly, like his predecessor, Fred Gillman, issued warnings to people to safe guard their homes against fire.  Cleanliness and attention to keeping stoves, furnaces and electrical appliances in proper working order were always stressed.  In addition, Bly issued warnings at Christmas time about flammable Christmas trees, ornaments, toys, clothing.  Some people were still using candles on Christmas trees, or faulty electrical cords and Christmas tree lights.  Bly also warned churches and other public places where Christmas decorations were used to be especially cautious as "the danger perhaps is greatest in public places because of the inevitable panic should fire occur."

The Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company also issued warnings to farmers to be cautious about overheated hay.  The company's secretary, Don Whitmore, offered to test the hay's temperature.  The company also had equipment to treat the hay so that it would not burn.  The service was free to policy holders, who only paid for the chemical used in the treatement.  "Do not wait until your barn burns.  If there is danger proper steps can be taken before it is too late," Whitmore warned.

In April 1946, the firemen were called out to find the body of a child who had drowned in Lake Leota.  Orville Jones, Clifford Wood and Donald Weaver responded to the call to find Margaret Mary "Peggy Dalton", a five year old child.  Together with Police Chief, Lorenzo Cain and Rock County Sheriffs department, the men dragged the lake and found the girl's body in about 10 feet of water near the brick-walled edge of the lake.

Most calls were very short in duration.  Each fire call was referred to as a "special meeting" of the fire department.  In the Hook and Ladder Company minutes recorded in the 1940s by secretaries, George Mattakat and Clyde Babcock, the fire calls listed the members of the company who responded, the time the alarm was sounded and the time the fire trucks and men returned to the station.

For a small chimney fire, the length of time the men were out could be as short as five minutes.  Sometimes the fires had already been extinguished by the time the men arrived and they checked the walls and other hiding places for fires that might go undetected.
 
In 1948, the fire department began performing emergency medical services for the community.  The city purchased a resuscitator for the fire department.  The Red Cross also donated $100 toward the purchase of the machine.  It was to be used to take to local homes or other places where someone who was ill or injured might be having difficulty breathing.

The resuscitator was said to be especially helpful for burn or near-drowned victims.  Assistant fire chief, Leslie Giles and R. H. Gallman demonstrated the life saving machine to several civic groups so that people would know it was available.

In 1948, the townships also purchased a new fire truck, a 1948 Chevrolet, 1,000 gallon tank truck.  The first practice with the new community truck was held in August 1948, according to Hook and Ladder Company records written by the secretary Clyde Babcock.

Following Ben Bly's term as fire chief, assistant chief, Les Giles took over.  Giles, who was an auto mechanic also served as the fire department steward, whose responsibility was to keep the trucks in good mechanical order.

In January 1950, the department was called to the home of one of its volunteers.  The furnace at Clyde Babcock's residence exploded and the cause was thought to be from accumulated coal gas.  The front door of the furnace was blown off by the blast and flames shot out of the basement windows.  Leaves that were piled beside the houses of the Babcock's neighbors caught fire and the exterior of the homes were scorched.

Babcock responded to the fire as did fellow Hook and Ladder Company volunteers, Robert Olsen, Lester Patterson, Richard Shea, Clifford Wood, Leslie Giles, Howard Becher and Vern Laufenberg.  The firemen had to use gas masks so that they could enter the basement of the home.

By 1951, the fire department did not have enough volunteers and Giles placed an article in the Evansville Review asking for able-bodied young men to apply to join the department.

The department's most serious fire in years occurred in May 1953 when the Green Brothers Grain Elevator on East Main Street burned.  The fire started in the drier in the grain elevator and the first alarm was sounded at 10 a.m. in the morning.  Within an hour the fire seemed to be under control.  Several hundred spectators gathered to watch the firemen as they worked on the roof of the grain elevator, pouring water on the two to three thousand bushels of burning corn.
 
The City Council had been negotiating for a new fire truck during the spring of 1953, but the decision to purchase a new truck did not come until after the disastrous fire at the Green grain elevator.

The new truck had a GMC chassis with fire equipment built by the Pirsch Company of Kenosa.  The truck cost nearly $9,000 and could pump 500 gallons of water a minute.  The truck carried four hoses, including two 2 1/2-inch in diameter and one each of 1 1/2 and 1-inch diameters.  There were ladders, including a 32-foot overhead ladder mounted on the truck.

The truck was not ready until January 1954.  When it arrived, the men took the truck to Leota Park and tested its pumping apparatus at Allen's Creek.  Using four hoses of three different sizes, the engine passed the test and was accepted by the department and the insurance inspector.

With the new truck, the City now had the lowest insurance rating class a community with a volunteer fire department could have.  The insurance inspector gave the city a class 6 insurance rating and some claimed that the savings in insurance premiums would pay for the new truck in two years.

The new engine was put to use the very first day when a small fire was discovered at the Baker Manufacturing Company.  The fire was in a pile of wooden forms and was under control within a half hour after the firemen arrived.

Leslie Golz, Lawrence Skoien, and Phillip Montgomery, three men who would become chiefs of the Evansville Fire Department, signed on with the Hook and Ladder Company in  the 1950s.  They joined Chet Jorgensen, Richard Shea, Les Patterson, Clifford Wood, Howard Becher, Clyde Babcock, R. Gallman, M. D. Fish and Verne Laufenberg.  In addition to the Hook and Ladder Company, there were also 12 members of the Hose Company.

In addition to fighting fires, the fire department was also asked to take part in the Civil Defense programs that were being organized throughout the nation.  Responding to fears of a Communist invasion, or sabotage, citizens began preparing a defense system, including stock piling food, designating or building bomb shelters, establishing an observation corps for spotting enemy planes, and training emergency personnel.

The Fire Chief, Les Giles and volunteer firefighters, Bob Olson and Ed Erpenbach served on the committee to establish a Civil Defense Ground Observer Corp in Evansville in 1953.  The purpose of the organization was to identify planes as they flew over the City and to report the planes to a central office in Chicago.  This was a volunteer effort that required many hours of time from people in the community.

Les Giles went to work for a Madison truck dealership, but continued his office as Chief of the fire department.  Chester Jorgenson served as assistant chief of the fire department and acted as head of the department during the day when Giles was out of the city.

Two members of the fire department retired in February 1953.  Clyde Babcock and Ray Hubbard were honored at a special program at the high school auditorium.  Babcock had served for fifty-five years and Hubbard for 45 years.

Clyde Babcock had served as foreman of the hook and ladder company, and also was secretary of the department.  Hubbard was a member of the hose company and had been the city fire inspector.  Babcock remained active as a fire inspector.

The City Council minutes occasionally listed the payment of the volunteers who responded to fires.  Firemen receiving pay in the July 1953 bills paid by the City were Earl Schwartz, Maurice Bly, Donald Persons, R. Hatlevig, H. Seguine, William Erbs, Don Turner, Don Graham, Robert Albright, Wayne Hatlevig, L. George, Orville Jones, R. Jorgensen, Larry Skoien, Richard Shea, R. Peterson, C. Wood, Leslie Giles, Chester Jorgensen, Howard Becher, John Whitmore, Les Golz, Reinhold Gallman, M. D. Fish, and Robert Olson.

State law required that the fire department conduct regular fire inspections in the business district every six months.  The inspections in Evansville were conducted by Clyde Babcock.  In 1954, when it came time to pay Babcock for his work, a minor difference of opinion developed between the City Council and the fire department.

Chief Les Giles requested a $15 payment for Babcock's work but the council refused until they had a chance to discuss exactly what it was the Babcock did as a fire inspector.   The matter was not resolved until the following year, when the Council and Babcock met and all of the cancelled checks paid to Babcock were laid out on the Council table.  The parties finally agreed that Babcock had received $15 more than he had earned, but considered the matter settled.

There was also much discussion at the City Council over the payment of the firemen for answering calls and taking part in training sessions.  Each year, the City received approximately $500 from the State of Wisconsin from a tax levied by the State of Wisconsin against insurance companies.  The payment represented about two percent of the fire insurance premiums paid by Evansville residents.

In order for Evansville's City Council to receive the money from the state, the City's fire department had to meet a set of standards, including training sessions for the men in the use of fire equipment and fire fighting techniques.  The Evansville fire department's equipment met the standards and they had met the requirements with their annual series of training sessions in the spring and early summer.

In the past, this money had been distributed to the firemen but some on the council felt that the money should be used to purchase new equipment.  After several months of discussion, the money was given to the fire department to be distributed among its members "as compensation for drills in which they took part during the course of the year."

In the spring and summer of 1954, the weather was unusually dry and the fire department battled many grass fires.  In one week in early March, the department responded to seven grass fires.  Chief Leslie Giles warned people against carelessly starting fires to burn rubbish or garden and yard waste.  Winds and the dry conditions could easily spread the fire out of control.

Giles sent a letter of resignation to the Evansville City Council in January 1955 and his assistant chief, Chester Jorgensen was appointed the fire chief of the Evansville department in April 1955.  During Jorgensen's first year as chief, the volunteer fire department responded to 40 fire calls, 22 in the city and 18 in the country.

Most years, the fire department responded to many calls, but the fires resulted in relatively minor damage.  However, in 1958, the department fought several major fires.  In January, firemen from Evansville and Footville battled a house fire on the William Lawrence farm on Dohs road.  The family, which included seven children, was asleep when the fire was discovered and barely escaped before the house was consumed by flames.  The fire departments were able to save several other building surrounding the house.

A few days later, the Evansville Review and Antes Printing Company building, on East Main Street, caught fire.   Members of the local public works crew were working on a sewer when they saw the fire and called in the alarm.

The firemen were called out at 6:45 in the evening on January 19, 1958.  The printing company owner, William Sumner, Jr. and several firemen were attending a Lion's Club meeting in a restaurant about two blocks from the building.

The firemen responded quickly, but the flames were already shooting out of the top of the building.  It was reported that the fire could be seen as far away as Brooklyn.  Many feared that the entire downtown area was in danger.

The fire was still out of control a half-hour after the firemen arrived and because of the building's location at the east end of the business district, other buildings were in danger.  The Evansville fire department called for assistance from the Janesville and Orfordville fire departments.

There were hundreds of spectators gathered to watch the spectacle as the fire burned out of control for nearly three hours.  Several members of the Antes Printing Company staff tried to help the volunteer firefighters.

The fire seemed to be shooting up the elevator shaft and one of the employees, Gene Thompson, tried to show the firemen the location of the elevator.  He became disoriented and was injured when he fell from the first floor down to the basement through the elevator shaft.

Bob Antes, former owner of the Antes Press, rescued the old files of the Evansville newspapers, that went back to 1866.   Some of the papers that were later given to the Evansville library still show the scorch marks of the fire.  Unfortunately, the papers from 1890 to 1910 were not saved.

Dense smoke, darkness and cold temperatures made the fire very difficult to fight.  The mid-January temperatures were below freezing and the water spray from the fire hoses froze on ladders and ropes, making it difficult for the firemen to fight the fire.

The third story floor collapsed and the roof fell onto the second story floor.  One printing press on the third floor was later found on the first floor of the building.  All three floors were considered unsafe.

There was also great concern that the fire in the walls of the building would cause the brick structure to collapse.  Even after the fire was under control, the firemen stayed on the scene until the following morning.

Firemen were able to save the brick structure, but the interior and the printing machinery were badly damaged.  The entire three story building was damaged by the fire and it was estimated the loss might reach $200,000.

The Review editor praised the Evansville Janesville and Orfordville fire departments.  "They did a great job.  Watching, I realized again it takes a lot of gumption and sometimes raw courage to do a fireman's job and these fellows have it."

The day after the fire, the department was called back to the building.  Someone had mistaken blowing snow for smoke and called in another fire alarm.

The department also fought two large barn fires in 1958.  The first occurred in May at a farm owned by Fred Brunsell and operated by Corvin Neuenschwander.  The loss was estimated at $50,000.

The following July, lighting caused a fire in a barn and machine shed on the Harlin Hermanson farm east of Evansville.   A large 120 x 140 foot barn, the 50 x 60 foot machine shed, and a smaller shed were destroyed.  Janesville firemen were also called out and the two departments were able to save the house and another small building on the property.  Hermanson estimated his loss as about $75,000.

The fire department's annual meeting was held each March and the men elected a fire chief , which was always confirmed by an appointment of the man by the Mayor.  In March 1959, the firemen reelected Chester Jorgensen.  His assistant chief was Reinhold Gallman.  Wayne Hatlevig, Les Golz and Robert Gallman served on the board of inquiry.  The board of inquiry was established to find men to fill vacancies on the department.

Other officers elected in 1959 included Lawrence Skoien, foreman, William Morrison, Assistant foreman, William Erbs, treasurer, Phil Montgomery, steward and Howard Becher, secretary.

A new fire truck was built by the Peter Pirsch company in Kenosha for the Evansville department in 1959.  The chassis was purchased from Thompson Motors in Evansville and featured a F850 Ford with a 401-cubic-inch motor, the equivalent of 226 horsepower.

The truck had a 500-gallon booster tank, a 500-gallon-per-minute Hale two-stage centrifugal fire pump with vacuum power controls.  The pump could be used at a hydrant or drafting from a lake, stream, or cistern.

There were compartments for boots, rain coats and other fire fighting equipment that the department now owned.  The truck also carried 1,500 feet of 1 1/2-inch fire hose and 2 1/2-inch hose and 200 feet of high-pressure hose on a reel at the back of the truck.

For the first time, the department was able to communicate by radio.  The new truck had a two-way radio which could communicate with its home-base at the police department in City Hall or with other departments in the area who owned radio equipment.  Howard Becher was designated as the radio man for the department and was stationed at the police department radio during each fire in case there was a need for a doctor, ambulance or other equipment.

The new truck was owned jointly the City of Evansville, and the townships of Union, Porter, Magnolia and Center.  It was cost nearly $15,000, but considering the potential property loss when a major fire occurred, the cost of the fire truck was a bargain.

Chief Chet Jorgensen told the Evansville Review reporter that he was "very grateful for the fine fire equipment now furnished by the city and the four townships.  I am proud of this fine group of firemen.  He especially praised the work of Phil Montgomery, the steward and custodian of the department's equipment.

The department now owned three fire trucks.  However, the new truck was too wide to fit through the old doors to the fire department room at City Hall.  The Council replaced the original doors with one wide overhead door to accommodate the trucks.

By 1961, each fireman also had boots and a raincoat.  There were fire fighting helmets and asbestos hoods carried in the fire trucks.  Additional equipment the fire department owned included hay nozzles, foam equipment, adjustable nozzles that could shoot a stream of water or a finer spray.

In addition to the annual training by the local department, several fire department personnel remained active in training for civil defense.  Chester Jorgensen, Robert Gallman, Charles Nordeng, Richard Meyers, Kenneth Gallman, Richard Jorgensen, R. H. Gallman, Howard Becher, Donald Graham, Leslie Golz, Lawrence Skoien, Norman Pierce and Donald Weaver attended a ten-week training session in Janesville.  They trained for radiological detection and decontamination.   When the training was completed the department also purchased civil defense equipment.

Firemen were called to fight another large dairy barn fire in November 1961.  The fire destroyed the John Spanton barn and one of the silos. It started in the hayloft and had a good start by the time the firemen arrived.  The cattle were rescued from the barn and taken to a nearby field.

Both Evansville and Footville departments were on the scene.  Five trucks also carried  loads of water to the fire.  Two milk trucks and three flat bed trucks were used to transport the water to the fire, in addition to the water carried by the Evansville Fire Department tank trucks.

Strong north winds threatened the other buildings on the farm and the firemen concentrated on saving the buildings to the south of the barn.  Before the fire was out, in addition to the barn, the Spantons had lost 3,500 bales of hay, a tractor and plow, 600 bales of straw and several other pieces of farm machinery.

The following January, the Heacox family home on West Main Street was destroyed by fire.  The family rushed from their home in freezing temperatures.  For more than four hours the firemen battled the blaze as the fire got in the walls and was very difficult to extinguish.  When the fire was finally under control, the walls of the structure were still standing, but the house was considered a total loss.

In 1963, the fire department was called to three major conflagrations as well as an epidemic of small fires.  In the first two weeks of April, the department responded to eight fires, including grass fires, burning leaves and a telephone pole fire.

At 4:30 a.m. on April 20, 1963, LaVerne Gallman, the night policeman discovered a fire in the offices of the Pruden Products Company.  The fire department was at the plant within a few minutes and found the two story-brick portion of the building on fire.  The gas valve that led into the building was shut off immediately, to prevent the gas from fueling the fire.

When the fire was still out of control a half-hour after they arrived, Evansville firemen called the Brooklyn Fire Department to assist them.  The manufacturing portion of the plant, as well as nearby were tanks of LP gas and gasoline owned by other businesses and the fire were endangered by the fire.

The firemen and other volunteers carried office furniture and many valuable papers out of the building as others kept streams of water trained on the burning structure and the adjoining buildings.  It took nearly four hours to get the fire under control.  The firemen were able to save the manufacturing portion of the company's buildings, but the office was a total loss.

When investigators could get into the office building, they determined that the fire was probably an electrical one that had started in the company's mailroom.  The loss was estimated to be nearly $200,000.

The following July, the May Brothers Hatchery on Maple Street caught fire.  Once again, night policeman, LaVerne Gallman, spotted the fire, as did the neighbor across the street, Lyle Wickersham.  The fire raged for three hours and endangered buildings in the business district.  Two cement block buildings were damaged in the blaze, as well as several incubators and a large egg-coddling machine.

The third major fire in 1963, occurred at the Green Brothers Grain Warehouse on East Main Street.  Firemen were called out at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, August 3rd.  Flames at times reached a height of 35 feet and could be seen for miles in every direction.

When they could not get the fire under control, the Evansville department once again called on the Brooklyn Fire Department for mutual aid.  The 8 p.m. southbound passenger train of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad was stopped because of the fire hoses stretched across the track.

Firemen fought the blaze throughout the night as smoke and flames consumed the contents of the grain elevator.  The building had more than 6,000 bushels of soybeans and 10,000 bushels of shelled corn.

The three major fires in one year had fostered cooperation and friendships between the Evansville and Brooklyn firemen.  In September 1963, the two groups joined together for a social evening at the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Building.

Howard Becher, who had served on the fire department for 20 years announced his retirement at the meeting.  In reviewing his volunteer fire fighting career, Becher considered the Pruden fire to be the biggest he'd ever fought.  At the time of his retirement, he served as secretary of the department and as the fire company's radio man.
 
Fire Chief Chester Jorgensen had been on the department  since 1940.  New equipment and several changes in personnel had occurred during his time on the department.  When Jorgensen was interviewed in 1966, he considered the three major fires to have been the ones fought in 1963, Pruden's, The Antes Press and Green's elevator.

During his time as chief, Jorgensen had sometimes struggled to convince the City Council and the taxpayers of the financial needs of the department.   In 1965, Jorgensen had ordered fire hose at a cost of $500.  Although the money for the equipment was budgeted, Jorgensen had not asked the Council's permission to make the purchase.

They objected to the bill and questioned the chief about why he had ordered the new hose.  Jorgensen, offended by their actions, offered the Council his resignation.  The differences between Jorgensen and the Council were mended and a week later he withdrew his resignation.

Over the years, the fire department personnel stressed safety and prevention of fires.  The fire chief regularly placed news articles in the local paper during Fire Prevention week and during special promotions of safety programs.

In the fall of 1966, the firemen initiated a safety program called the "Helping Hand".   They offered to donate stickers that could be placed on a window in the home indicating there was a person who was disabled and could not easily be evacuated during a fire.  Lawrence Skoien, Leslie Golz and Charles Nordeng were the contact people for the program.   Mrs. Alvie Scoville and Mrs. Earl Courtier were the first two people to participate in the program.

Chief Jorgensen and the firemen began a campaign for a new fire station in 1966.  At their October 1966 regular meeting, they discussed ways to present a plan for a new building to the City Council.

The three fire trucks, all of the hoses and other equipment were crowded into the basement of the City Hall.  The same room that had housed the horse-drawn steam engine and hose carts.

There was so little space in the basement room that the firemen had been holding their regular monthly meetings at the Union Mutual Insurance Company building.  "There are twenty-four men that make up the fire department and the space in the fire station is so small that there isn't room to sit down without using the fire trucks as chairs," one of the firemen explained in a letter to the editor in the Evansville Review.   There was barely enough room for one man to move between the wall and the equipment.

Finding room for the equipment was also a problem.  Whenever hose was used at a fire, it had to be drained and dried.  If it wasn't dried properly, the fabric covered-rubber hose developed weak spots and could burst under pressure during a fire. After it was dried, the hose was stored on the trucks or hung on hooks attached to pipes around the perimeter of the room.

Because they had so little room, the firemen had placed the hose over boards for drying or strung it from the fire escape on the City Hall.  Some feared that the weight of the hose on the fire escape would cause it to collapse.  On the "wish list" for the new fire department building was a hose tower, to properly lay out the hose for drying.

Other deficiencies included an inadequate warning system.  The old fire bell, which could be heard for miles, had not been used since 1952 when the weights went down too fast and cracked the frame.  A siren on top of City Hall did not have enough volume to be heard two or three blocks away.  On windy days the sound did not carry that far.  Some suggested that there should be more than one siren, and the new sirens should be placed at several locations in the city.

The poor warning system was improved through a Civil Defense program and a new 3-signal warning siren was installed in June 1967.  A steady 3-5 minutes tone was a storm alert and the fire siren was a 3-5 minute high-low tone.   Another wavering tone was to be used in case of attack.  The sirens were tested on a regular basis so that the public would recognize the signals.

Letters to the editor of the Review questioned whether the fire station's location in the City Hall was a safe place for the fire trucks.  "The varnished, tinder dry rooms upstairs in the City Hall would burn like a torch should fire start there.  The floors could burn through and fall on top of the trucks or debris could block the doors, thus preventing the removal of the equipment," one observer noted.

In May, the firemen held a week-long open house to show their crowded space.  Only 15 people attended and three of those were members of the City Council.  The following week, when there was a fire a short distance outside the city limits, many people came to watch the firemen at work.  The Review reporter facetiously remarked, "Many of them walked several blocks to watch the blaze, some of them even using canes, others arrived in automobiles, but when an open house in the fire station in the center of the city was held recently few showed up to look over the situation and discuss the need for a new fire station.  Perhaps the firemen should have blown the fire whistle the evening the open house was held."

Despite the lack of enthusiasm from the general public, the City Council and especially Evansville's new Mayor, Ida Conroy, recognized the need for a new fire station.  The townships were proposing that another truck be purchased and there were plans to purchase a rescue truck.

The City public works, fire and policy and finance committees met for several months before they made the decision to build a new structure.  They chose the vacant lot directly west of the City Hall, that the City already owned, as the building site.

A drawing of the new building appeared in the March 30, 1967 issue of the Evansville Review.  The building was to be 80 feet deep, 70 feet wide, 16 feet in the center and 14 feet high on the sides.  Three exit doors for the fire trucks faced Church Street.
 
The cost of the construction was expected to be approximately $50,000. The plans included space for six trucks, the city ambulance and a meeting room for the firemen.  The design also included a small kitchen, rest rooms, and shower facilities.

Construction for the new building began in August 1967 with the excavation for the foundation.  Four large trees were removed from the lot.  The committees decided that the building would be locally made