The Knox Automobile Company of Springfield, Massachusetts is often credited as developing

the first modern fire engine in 1905.*

The Chicago Fire Department is the second largest in the US, comprised of five districts

made up of 98 stations. In total, the CFD operates 96 fire engines. *

Modern View of Van Buren Street Bridge (HistoricBridges.org)

The fourth bridge at that site, constructed in 1957.

Photograph of Plate Number 4, an image of debris left after the Chicago Fire in October,

1822 (LOC, Chicago Daily News Collection)

An Alarm Box from the Time of the Fire (Greatchicagofire.org)

Most of these boxes were designed to tap out a Morse-signal to the fire department when activated, telling the firemen where to go.

Steam Fire Engine Fred Gund No. 14, from Report of the Board of Police, in the Fire

Department, 1871

Horse Drawn Fire Engine Rushing to Fire, 1900 (LOC)

Chicago became the first major city to completely motorize its fire department in

1923.

View from Van Buren Street Bridge After the Fire

(LOC, G. N. Barnard for Lovejoy & Foster, Stereograph, 1871)

Train Rolls by Rural Countryside near Gadsden, Alabama (LOC, Highsmith, Carol M.)

Chicago Fire Department Fire Boat (ChicagoFD.org)

Chicago had five fire boats in 1900. Today the CFD fireboats are stationed on Lake Michigan.

View from the Van Buren Street Bridge (Louis Kurz for Jevne & Almini, 1866,

GreatChicagoFire.org) Like many bridges, the Van Buren St bridge was

destroyed.

Chicago Water Tower, ca. 1930 (LOC, Chicago Daily News Collection)

The Water Tower and Pumping Station were among the few structures to survive the fire.

In 1927, Albert Goodrich became Fire Commissioner for Chicago and began the

tradition of using red and green lights on CFD vehicles. Goodrich was an avid sailor and the

colors mirror the pattern for ships.*

In the 1850’s, the CFD wasn’t the only fire department in Chicago. The Citizen’s Fire

Brigade (later Fire Insurance Patrol) was in operation from 1857-1959.*

Aerial Tower #1is stationed at 419 S Wells St. Also stationed at that location in the CFD’s

SCUBA dive team.

Now defunct (1963), Engine Co. 6 was the first

due at the Great Chicago Fire*

The “Saturday Night Fire” of October 7-8, 1871 (the night before the Great Fire) was known as

the “Red Flash” by insurance brokers because of the combustibility of the local buildings.*

Fire Scene Steam Fire Engines and Water Tower (Boston Fire Museum)

The second-largest fire in Chicago history was the Union Stock Yards fire of 1934. It burned

nearly 90% of the Stock Yards and required the efforts of 1,600 firefighters to extinguish.*

Modern Fire Alarm (Elvis Santana) The Iroquois Theater Fire (1903) led to many

improvements in fire safety including the installation of fireboxes outside theaters, panic

bars on doors, fireproof curtains, and doors opening outward. *

Fire-damaged copy of a volume of hymns Spirit of Prayer

(GreatChicagoFire.org)

Title: The Great fire at Chicago Oct. 9th 1871. View from the west side /Gibson & Co.'s Steam

Press, Cin. O. (LOC)

The CFD officially disbanded their volunteer unit in 1989. The unit, created from a former Civil

Defense team, assisted the CFD in battling extra-alarm fires.*

“911” was inaugurated in September of 1976.*

Chicago Fire Department image depicting ladders, trucks, and hoses fighting a fire.

(ChicagoFD.org)

The Great Fire at Chicago. Scene in Wells Street - the terrified populace in front of the Briggs

House, which has just caught fire / from a sketch by our special artist.

(LOC, Harper’s Weekly)

Title: Chicago, as seen after the great conflagration, embracing the whole of the

burned district as seen from an elevation in the southern boundary thereof.

(LOC)

Chicago has had many railway terminals over the years, including Great Central, Dearborn,

LaSalle Street, Grand Central, Union, Wells Street, North Western, and Millennium

Stations. *

Michael J. Corrigan and Fred Fenske, Jr., standing in front of a fire truck in a garage (LOC, Chicago Daily News Collection, 1929)

Firemen riding on a new fire truck on a street in Chicago, Illinois

(LOC, Chicago Daily News, 1929)

Unity Church, 1871 (Abbott, J. H., GreatChicagoFire.org)

Chicago is divided into two dispatch areas: Main (North) and Englewood (South). The

south branch of the Chicago River is the dividing line.*

A typical Fireman’s Whistle (WhistleMuseum.com)

Sectional View of LaSalle Street Tunnel

(GreatChicagoFire.org, 1877) The tunnel was opened just three months

before the Great Fire.

Police officer George Ferguson standing in front of two automobiles on a road

(LOC, Chicago Daily News Collection, 1928)

Automobiles parked along a street in Logan Square

(LOC, Chicago Daily News, 1929)

Kettle at allegedly survived the Chicago fire (LOC, Chicago Daily News, 1905)

Mexican Central Railway train at station (LOC, Detroit Publishing Company, 1880)

The term “Still Alarm” arose with the use of telephones for reporting emergencies. The

alarm office’s register would receive a signal from a firebox that remained “still” (in one

location).*

City Police or Fire Whistle (WhistleMuseum.com)

The Chicago Fire Department was officially established August 2, 1858.*

St. James Episcopal Church After the Fire (GreatChicagoFire.org)

Painting of the Chicago fire of 1871 by Edgar S. Cameron

(LOC, Edgar S. Cameron, 1911)