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€) at the corner of Greenwood and Hinman. At the time, the Greenwood Inn was one of only 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 were dining in the hotel. Bessie Gallagher ignored police orders and ran into the burning building to save her belongings before firefighters rescued her. She was later arrested for disorderly conduct and disobeying an officer. Fortunately, no one was injured, and the quick response of the Evanston Fire Department prevented the fire from spreading to the hotel. The stable suffered around $3,000 in damage.
Two weeks later, on January 28, 1915, early in the morning, the EFD responded to a fire at Mrs. I.C. Danwood’s boarding house at 1925 Sherman Ave. A boarder named C.C. Firman broke both ankles when he jumped from a second-floor window to escape the flames before the firefighters arrived. When the EFD arrived, the fire was already blowing through the roof. Despite rescuing all the other boarders without injury, the fire department faced a major setback when a fire hydrant stem broke off during the connection of a suction hose. They eventually connected to another hydrant further away, but the delay led to the total destruction of the house, with $7,000 in damages. However, the EFD managed to protect nearby 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, supplied by multiple 2½-inch hose lines.
On April 20, 1915, voters in Wilmette approved a $20,000 bond issue to purchase a motorized fire engine and build a combined police and fire station on the west side of Railroad Avenue south of Lake Ave. Later that year, Wilmette Fire Department received an American-LaFrance Type 75, a 750-GPM triple-combination pumper, which served as its first-due engine for over 25 years. The station operated for 50 years, marking a significant step forward in fire protection for the community.
At 2 PM on Sunday, 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 responded, but the shop was completely gutted, and the adjacent C.H. Morgan grocery store suffered heavy smoke damage. The total damage 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 at 529 Lee St. The blaze was sparked by a wayward Fourth of July bottle rocket. Flames spread quickly to neighboring roofs, but firefighters managed to contain the fire before it reached other homes. The Patterson residence and the homes of Robert Larimer and John W. Fellows suffered significant roof and second-floor damage. Fireman William Wilbern of Engine Co. 2 was slightly injured when the roof collapsed on him while he was fighting the fire in the attic.
In September 1915, EFD Chief Albert Hofstetter attended the International Association of Fire Engineers Convention in Cincinnati. He reported that while some departments still used horse-drawn steamers, none were displayed at the event. He noted that automobile fire apparatus had improved significantly since Evanston purchased its Robinson Jumbo in 1911, and he predicted that horse-drawn rigs would soon be replaced nationwide. He also highlighted a new fully automated aerial ladder demonstrated at the convention, built by Ahrens-Fox and featuring a Dahill Air Hoist system. It could be raised by one man in just 11 seconds, a vast improvement over Evanston’s 1907 American-LaFrance HDA, which required two men to operate a windlass.
On January 8, 1916, a fire destroyed Rosenberg’s Department Store at 820 Davis St. As in the Heck Hall fire two years earlier, two Chicago FD engine companies assisted. This time, both Engine Co. 102 and Engine Co. 110 were equipped with modern gasoline-powered pumpers. Engine 102 had a brand-new Seagrave, and Engine 110 had a 1912 Webb previously assigned to Engine 102. With EFD Motor Engine No. 1 (the Robinson "Jumbo") also on scene, this provided a rare opportunity to compare the performance of three automobile pumpers under real conditions.
Thousands of spectators gathered at Fountain Square as Evanston and Chicago firefighters battled the fire deep into Sunday morning. All three pumpers ran out of gas after the EFD's 120-gallon reserve was exhausted, but more fuel was found at a nearby garage. EFD Capt. Ed Johnson (Motor Engine Co. 1) was seriously injured but later recovered. The fire caused $58,700 in damage, setting a new record for the second-highest loss from a fire in Evanston’s history at the time.
The American-LaFrance horse-drawn 85-foot windlass-operated aerial-ladder truck (HDA), purchased by Evanston in 1907 for $6,700, was in service for only nine years. On the evening of September 18, 1916, it collided with an Evanston Street Railway Company streetcar at Grove and Sherman while responding to an alarm on Hinman Avenue. Two firefighters, Dan McKimmons and Orville Wheeler, were thrown to the ground when the rig tipped over and were seriously injured in the crash.
The Evanston Street Railway Company claimed the accident was unavoidable and refused to take responsibility. The city initiated legal action to force the ESRC’s insurance company to cover the cost of a new HDA. Unfortunately, Evanston had not insured the old HDA, so winning the lawsuit was the only way to fund a replacement without a costly emergency appropriation or a voter-approved bond issue.
While waiting for the case to settle, the City Council decided to sell two of the four horses assigned to the HDA and lease a new hook-and-ladder truck (without an aerial ladder) from American LaFrance for $60 per month. This two-horse H&L, previously used in Peru, Indiana, was in excellent condition and served as EFD Truck No. 1 for about six months while being advertised for sale.
American LaFrance sold the ex-Peru rig to the Toronto Fire Department in March 1917. In its place, Evanston leased an 1891 LaFrance/Hayes 55-foot aerial ladder truck with a three-horse hitch known as the “Lucille M. McQuade,†which had been in service for 25 years as Chattanooga Fire Department Truck No. 1. Chattanooga had recently bought a new automobile 75-foot TDA and traded in the old HDA as part of the deal. This vintage HDA was unique in that the tillerman rode below the aerial ladder!
To replace the ex-Peru H&L with the three-horse HDA, the EFD needed another horse, so the venerable 1873 Babcock double-50-gallon chemical engine was taken out of front-line service, and its horse was reassigned to the HDA. Eventually, the EFD returned the Lucille McQuade to American LaFrance, and the three horses used to pull it were retired after a new automobile city service ladder truck arrived from Seagrave in November 1917. This marked the completion of the $30,000 bond issue passed by Evanston voters in April 1917, which fully motorized the EFD.
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