From Phil Stenholm:
Another installment in our series on the History of the Evanston Fire Department.
The Ballad of the Lucille McQuade
On January 12, 1915, a fire broke out at the Nally livery stable, located near the Greenwood Inn—once known as the “French Houseâ€â€”at the corner of Greenwood and Hinman. At the time, the Greenwood Inn was one of two hotels in Evanston, the other being the famous Avenue House at Davis and Chicago. The fire started on the second floor of the stable while guests dined in the hotel. Bessie Gallagher ignored police orders and rushed into the burning building to save her belongings before being pulled to safety by firefighters. She was later arrested for disorderly conduct and failing to obey an officer. Though the livery stable suffered $3,000 in damage, no one was injured, and the quick response of the EFD saved the hotel from destruction.
Two weeks later, on January 28, 1915, in the early morning hours, the EFD responded to a fire at Mrs. I.C. Danwood’s boarding house on Sherman Avenue. Boarder C.C. Firman broke both ankles when he jumped from a second-floor window to escape the flames. Upon arrival, firefighters found fire blowing through the roof. Although they rescued all other boarders safely, the operation was delayed when a hydrant stem broke off during hose connection. They eventually connected to a distant hydrant, but the delay led to total loss of the house and its contents, valued at $7,000. However, the EFD managed to protect surrounding buildings by setting up defensive positions, using an elevated master stream from the HDA’s aerial ladder and a high-pressure stream from the Eastman “deluger†on the street.
On April 20, 1915, voters in Wilmette approved a $20,000 bond to purchase a motorized fire engine and build a combined police and fire station. The Wilmette FD received an American-LaFrance Type 75 pumper later that year, which served as their first-due engine for over 25 years. The station operated for 50 years, marking a significant shift toward motorized firefighting.
At 2 PM on May 15, 1915, chemicals exploded in the film-developing room of the Will E. Horton camera shop in the Simpson Building on Davis Street. All three EFD engine companies were dispatched, but the shop was gutted, and the adjacent C.H. Morgan grocery store suffered heavy smoke damage. Total losses amounted to $8,500.
On July 3, 1915, at noon, Engine Co. 2 and Motor Engine Co. 1 responded to a fire on the roof of Mrs. Margaret Patterson’s home on Lee Street. A stray 4th of July bottle rocket sparked the blaze, which quickly spread to neighboring houses. Firefighters managed to contain the fire before it spread further, but the Patterson home and nearby residences sustained significant roof and second-floor damage. Fireman William Wilbern was slightly injured when the roof collapsed on him during the attack.
In September 1915, EFD Chief Albert Hofstetter attended the International Association of Fire Engineers Convention in Cincinnati. He reported that horse-drawn rigs were becoming obsolete, with automobile pumpers showing great improvements. He also noted the demonstration of a fully automated aerial ladder by Ahrens-Fox, capable of raising an 85-foot ladder in just 11 seconds—far more efficient than the 1907 American-LaFrance HDA, which required two men to raise the ladder manually.
On January 8, 1916, Rosenberg’s Department Store on Davis Street was completely gutted by fire. Chicago FD engines 102 and 110, both equipped with modern gasoline-powered pumpers, assisted. This event gave Evanston officials a chance to compare the performance of their Robinson “Jumbo†with the newer Seagrave and Webb units. Over 2,000 spectators gathered at Fountain Square as the fire raged into Sunday morning. All three pumpers ran out of fuel, but additional gas was obtained from a nearby garage. Captain Ed Johnson of Motor Engine Co. 1 was seriously injured but recovered. The fire caused $58,700 in damages, setting a new record for the second-highest fire loss in Evanston at the time.
The American-LaFrance 85-foot windlass-operated HDA, purchased in 1907 for $6,700, lasted only nine years. On September 18, 1916, it was involved in a collision with an Evanston Street Railway car at Grove and Sherman while responding to an alarm on Hinman Avenue. Two firefighters, Dan McKimmons and Orville Wheeler, were thrown to the ground and seriously injured in the crash.
The streetcar company claimed the accident was unavoidable, leading the city to file a lawsuit. Unfortunately, the HDA had not been insured, so the city had to win the case to secure funds for a replacement. While waiting for the court decision, the City Council sold two of the four horses assigned to the HDA and leased a two-horse hook-and-ladder truck from American LaFrance for $60 a month. It was used as EFD Truck No. 1 for six months before being sold to Toronto in March 1917.
Later that year, the EFD leased the “Lucille M. McQuade,†an 1891 LaFrance/Hayes 55-foot HDA that had been in service for 25 years in Chattanooga. After trading in the old rig for a new automobile ladder truck, the EFD returned the Lucille McQuade to American LaFrance. By November 1917, with the arrival of a new Seagrave ladder truck, the three horses used to pull the Lucille McQuade were retired. This marked the completion of the $30,000 bond issue passed in April 1917, which fully motorized the Evanston Fire Department.
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