From Mike Lopina:
Here is a shot of the former quarters of Evanston Engine 23 at 2504 Green Bay Rd. Not sure when the Station was built but it closed in 1954 when Engine 25 relocated to the new firehouse at 2830 Central (from Station 21) & Engine 23 and Truck 23 relocated to the new firehouse at 1105 Central.
Mike Lopina
Former quarters of Evanston FD Engine 23 prior to 1954. Mike Lopina photo
Former Evanston FD Station's 21 and 22. 22's at 750 Chicago Av became a restaurant, while 21's at 909 Lake St was heavily remodeled into headquarters after being given to the PD for a short time. Thanks! Mike Lopina
Former quarters of Evanston FD Engine 23 prior to 1954. Mike Lopina photo
Former quarters of Evanston FD Engine 23 prior to 1954. Mike Lopina photo
Mike Lopina photo
Mike Lopina photo
#1 by Bob Anthony on July 18, 2013 - 12:55 AM
Hi Phil,
By a strange coincidence I just noticed two days ago that the photographers studio has the “Station 3” engraved on the building. I say strange because I have lived in north Evanston since 1973 and was a Highland Park firefighter/paramedic for 30 years, retiring in 2010, and have been aware of the photographers studio since at least 1975. How is that for looking but not seeing? Thanks for all the info.
#2 by Tim Gobat on July 17, 2013 - 12:03 PM
Hey Boys…I’m loving the history you guys are sharing!
Phil, can you please contact me? I am a FF/PM with EFD at Engine 24 on Red Shift. I also am the primary “administrator” on the Evanston Fire Department FB Page. I would love to speak with you about the history of the EFD! Please leave a message on the Evanston Fire Department FB Page with your contact information. I would GREATLY appreciate it!
The Evanston Fire Department will be having a Rememberance Ceremony on Monday July 22nd, 2013 at 1400 hours at Firemens Park at Maple and Simpson to Honor FF/PM Marty Leoni, Firefighters William Craig and George Stiles and ALL deceased Evanston Firemen. A barbeque hosted by Evanston Firefighters Local 742 will follow the brief ceremony. Casual attire.
Best,
Tim
#3 by Phil Stenholm on July 17, 2013 - 11:46 AM
Bill: The “Fire Department Modernization Plan” proposed by Chief Henry Dorband in 1951 and the passage of bond issues in 1951 & 1953 led to the purchase of new apparatus from Pirsch (the two TDAs, two pumpers, and the squad), equipment (breathing apparatus for the truck companies, new hose for the engines, and radios for the rigs), expansion of the fire-fighting force from 88 to 100, and construction of three new fire stations (rebuilt/relocated Station #2 with space for a TDA, rebuilt/relocated Station #3 with space for a TDA, and the brand-new Station #5, each completed in 1955).
With the completion of the rebuilt Fire Station #2 (built as a “headquarters” station around the corner from the old Station #2), the relocated Fire Station #3 at 1105 Central Street (built as a one-story three-bay firehouse 3/4-mile to the east of the old two-story two-bay Station #3 at 2504 Green Bay Road), and the new Fire Station #5 at 2830 Central Street in northwest Evanston, the EFD had (at last) essentially met the recommendations offered by the National Board of Fire Underwriters back during the Great Depression in 1935 (although the NBFU had recommended that Station #5 be built at a different location further south than where it ended up).
As of September 1955, all insured structures within the corporate city limits of Evanston were within 1-1/2 miles of a fire station (and engine company). The five stations served Evanston well for many years, but in 1984 City Council staff floated a plan to replace the city’s five fire stations with three new ones.
The idea was to consolidate the ambulance crews, engine companies, and truck companies (with at least eight fire fighters and/or paramedics assigned to each station), to provide more manpower for “first responders” arriving at the scene of a fire or medical emergency, and to improve response times to areas of the city that incurred the most incidents.
The Rand Corporation was hired in 1986 to conduct an analysis of the Evanston Fire Department’s response times, and Rand determined that the EFD’s “average” response time would indeed be somewhat decreased if the five existing fire stations were to be replaced by three new stations to be located up & down the “central spine” of Evanston (one to be built at Willard D. Kamen Park at Asbury & South Boulevard in South Evanston, another to be located on vacant land at Lake & Ashland in central-west Evanston, and a third to be constructed on the site of the abandoned Municipal Testing Lane at Noyes & Ashland in north-central Evanston), although it admitted that response times would actually increase in certain areas of the city, but that these areas (in northwest Evanston) incurred a much lower number of calls for service and so therefore longer response times occasionally to that area of the city would have minimal statistical effect on overall average response times. (Tell that to someone with a fire or medical emergency at 3500 Hillside Road!).
Station #1 (Lake & Ashland) would have operated with two engine companies, one ambulance, Squad 21 (driver only), and the Shift Commander, and both Station #2 (Asbury & South Blvd) and Station #3 (Noyes & Ashland) would have operated with one engine company, one truck company, and an ambulance. The three new fire stations would be “drive-through” facilities (Station #1 with four bays and Stations 2 & 3 with three bays), with all reserve apparatus stored at the old Fire Station #1 on Lake Street, which would also become the new EFD HQ (Admin, Training, Fire Prevention, and equipment & apparatus storage).
Political opposition torpedoed the proposed station in South Evanston (where residents did not want to lose park land), as well as the one in North Evanston (where residents in the “High Ridge” area of northwest Evanston did not wish to suffer a minimum 5-1/2-to-six minute response time to fire and medical emergencies in their neighborhood, which was sure to be the case if the closest fire station was located at Noyes & Ashland instead of 2830 Central Street).
Instead, the City Council agreed to rebuild the city’s oldest firehouse (Station #4 at 1817 Washington Street), and tabled any further discussion of building new fire stations.
The new Station # 4 was rebuilt on the site of the original Fire Station #4 during 1989, at a cost of $643,000. Although rebuilding Fire Station # 4 was not recommended by the Rand Corporation, two of the study’s other recommendations were implemented
First, a third ALS ambulance was placed into front-line service (at Station #5 in 1989), although it only happened as part of the controversial “jump company” plan devised by Chief Raymond Brooks, where Engine Co. 21, Engine Co. 22, and Engine Co. 25 would each operate as a four-man “two-piece company” and “jump” to their ambulance when responding to EMS calls, with Engine Co. 23 and Engine Co. 24 not responding to EMS calls at all), and then after the “jump” plan was junked, Truck Co. 21 was relocated from Station #1 to Station # 3 in 1990 (becoming the reborn “Truck Co. 23,” a company which had been in service at Station #3 1955-62, back when the EFD briefly ran with three truck companies).
With a rebuilt firehouse in service in southwest Evanston, and Truck Co. 21 relocated to Station # 3, Fire Chief James Hunt (Chief Brooks’ successor) proposed in March 1993 that Fire Station #1 be rebuilt as a three-bay firehouse (housing just an engine company, an ambulance, and the Shift Commander) on a vacant lot (one-time site of a gas station) at the southeast corner of Emerson & Wesley, and that the existing six-bay mega-Station #1 at 909 Lake Street be converted into a “headquarters” facility (housing the Fire Prevention Bureau, training classrooms, administrative offices, and equipment storage).
The plan was readily accepted by the City Council (which was looking for ways to improve response times to the 5th Ward on the west-side), but the new Station #1 (at 1332 Emerson Street) was not completed for almost five years (February 1998), after unexpectedly high construction costs nearly doubled the project’s price-tag (from $1.2 to $2.2 million). Plans to convert the former Fire Station #1 to the Fire Department’s new “headquarters” also met similar delays, so the EFD’s administrative offices were located in a cramped second-floor office in leased commercial space on Dodge Avenue for several years before eventually moving back into the remodeled ex-fire station on Lake Street.
Fire Station #2 (the former headquarters station) was not rebuilt but it did undergo a major interior renovation about 20 years ago, and then Station #3 and Station #5 were completely rebuilt on their previous sites (Station #3 in 2004 and Station #5 in 2010), with Station #5 expanded from a former two-bay firehouse to a new three-bay facility.
#4 by Bill Post on July 17, 2013 - 3:25 AM
Phil, speaking about strategic planning for Evanston, do you recall that sometime around the late 80’s/early 90’s there was an official proposal done under the guise of a study to reduce the number of fire stations in to three or four? The idea was that there would be only one fire station in each overall section of the town; south, central, and north. There was also an option to keep a 4th station on the northwest side (Engine 25’s district).
They would have moved stations 1, 2, and possibley 3 further west to about Asbury Street. Station 3 would have been moved further west (probably near the original station 3) unless they opted to keep station 5 open. If I remember correctly, the proposal also suggested that the new stations be built in or near city parks, so the city wouldn’t have to acquire any land.
At least two of the proposed fire stations would have become “task force” stations. As you know the term “task force” can have different implications. The most commonly used application is a station that has both a truck company and an engine company with only one officer for both. Either way there have been several variations on the “Task force concept”. They never went through with that proposal and it was pretty obvious that it was an attempt by city management to close down station and Engine 24, and possibly station and Engine 25.
The relocation of Station 21 further west seemed to suggest that the city started to act on the earlier proposal, but decided not to go all the way. It was a wise move for the city not to eliminate stations 4 and 5, however it still was a surprise to me when station 1 was relocated. I know that there were pros and cons to that relocation.
In my opinion, the original proposal was dangerous, as it would have had Station 2 cover their district and Station 4’s district with only one engine and truck. Had they gone with that proposal, all it would have taken was one “still alarm” or structure fire and roughly 2/3’s of the city would have been without fire protection. Today, since Evanston uses three engines on a working fire, it would have meant stripping the entire department if they had gone to that three or four station proposal. With the current arrangement they still have two engines and one truck available if there is a working fire in town.
Do you remember that ill conceived report that (thank goodness) was never fully implemented?
#5 by Phil Stenholm on July 17, 2013 - 12:08 AM
Bill: Inhalators were assigned to the five engine companies plus Squad 21 in 1959. Prior to that. the inhalator unit was Squad 21, and prior to 1952 (when Squad 21 first went into service), the inhalator unit was Engine Co. 1 (there were two engine companies at Station #1 1927-55, and Engine Co. 5 was the “high-value district” engine comany).
During the 31 years that Truck Co. 1 (21) and Truck Co. 2 (22) were together at Station #1, Truck Co. 1 (which ran with an 85-ft TDA for that entire period of time) was first-due east of Asbury (where most-all the tall buildings were), and Truck Co. 2 (which operated with a city service truck 1924-37 and then with a 65-ft service aerial truck 1937-52) was first-due to alarms west of Asbury Ave. Both trucks responded to alarms at schools (during school hours) and hospitals.
When the third truck company (Truck Co. 23) was in service at Station #3 1955-62, it operated with the 1937 Seagrave 65-ft service aerial (ex-Truck 2), and it’s first-due district was the area north of Emerson Street (including Northwestern University and Evanston Hospital).
The EFD did not have a reserve truck during this period of time (1955-62), but Truck 23 was the reserve truck once it was taken out of front-line service (January 1, 1963), and the EFD’s reserve truck was kept at Station #3 from 1963 up until 1990 (when Truck Co. 21 was relocated to Station #3 and became Truck Co. 23).
I do know that when the three new fire stations were built in Evanston in 1955, the primary strategic objective was for the EFD to operate with five engine companies (one in each of the five stations), three truck companies (one south, one center, and one north), plus Squad 21 at Station #1.
If the Evanston City Council had appropriated funds for a new ladder truck in 1962, Truck Co. 23 would NOT have been taken out of service.
#6 by Bill Post on July 16, 2013 - 10:02 PM
Phil thank you for sharing and printing all of the historical information on the Evanston Fire Department. I live less then a mile from Evanston and am in Evanston at least once a week.
I remember how the Police had provided the public ambulance service before 1976 before Evanston received their first extra long white over red ALS ambulances which were both located at the old fire station 1(at 909 Lake street) in the beginning.
I also remember that the Evanston Police used station Wagons equipped with collapsible gurneys in the back for their Ambulances and I remember the old Squad 21 both the International Harvester and the Pirsch models.
Squad 21 was first due on inhalators in Station 1’s area however if the run was in other stations districts then that stations Engine would be sent. It was that way in the mid 60’s to the mid 70’s however I don’t know about the early years.
When Trucks 1 and 2 both ran from station 1 were they both manned and front line companies? Did they both have separate running districts or did they just “take turns” on who was going out first?
Thanks for running the photos Mike.
#7 by Mike Lopina on July 16, 2013 - 6:10 PM
Again great stuff, Phil. Thank you so much for sharing it!
#8 by Phil Stenholm on July 16, 2013 - 2:26 PM
Also, when old Fire Station #2 (at 750 Chicago Avenue) closed in 1955, it was home to an automabile dealership for about 20 years before it became a restaurant.
#9 by Phil Stenholm on July 16, 2013 - 2:23 PM
I should have said the original Evanston firehouse (1873-83) was located at the Village Hall at the southwest corner of Church & Orrington (not Church & Sherman).
#10 by Phil Stenholm on July 16, 2013 - 2:04 PM
The original Evanston firehouse (1873-83) was located at the Evanston Village Hall at the southwest corner of Church & Sherman. The two volunteer hose companies (Pioneer Hose Co. No.1 & the C. J. Gilbert Hose Co.) and the volunteer H&L Co. (Evanston Hook & Ladder Co.) shared this space.
The two volunteer hose companies disbanded by mass resignation in a dispute with the Village Board over equipment in 1881, and the volunteer H&L Co. was disbanded in 1883.
A new part-time/paid 12-man Evanston Fire Co. (operating a four-wheel hose wagon, the Babcock chemical-engine, and a Davenport H&L) was organized in 1883 by new Fire Chief Sam Harrison (ex-C. J. Gilbert Hose Co. foreman) in a former paint shop (frame construction) located at the northwest corner of Sherman Avenue & the north alley of Davis Street (the present site of the City Parking Garage). The building featured a stable, and the EFD acquired its first horses at this time. (Apparatus had formerly been hand-pulled).
The Evanston Fire Department relocated to the new City Hall at the northwest corner of Davis & Sherman in 1893, but was there only four years. (Several members of the City Counil objected to the pungent odor of the Fire Department’s horses emanating through the building during city council meetings).
So in 1897 the Evanston Fire Dept & Evanston Police Dept were relocated from City Hall to a new police/fire facility built just for them at the northwest corner of Grove & Sherman (present site of a high-rise office building). The address of the fire station (Station #1) was 807 Grove Street, while the police station had a Sherman Avenue address. The firehouse had four bays, and there was a fifth bay just to the east of the fire station that housed the Evanston Police ambulance. (The Police Department provided ambulance service in Evanston until 1976).
The EFD & EPD moved into a new police/fire facility at the northwest corner of Lake & Elmwood in 1949. (Station #1 address 909 Lake Street), and a new Fire Station #1 was built at 1332 Emerson Street (the former site of a gas station) in 1998, as the old Fire Station #1 was converted into the EFD headquarters.
The original Evanston Fire Station #2 was the former South Evanston Village Hall, acquired when the Village of South Evanston was annexed by the Village of Evanston (forming the new City of Evanston) in 1892.
The South Evanston Village Hall was a combination village hall/police station/jail/firehouse (with just one small apparatus bay located on the far south-end). The Evanston Police Dept. operated a South Precinct at this facility from 1892 until 1897 (when all P. D. functions were centralized at the new HQ at Grove & Sherman).
So by 1897 the Evanston Fire Department was the only occupant left in a multi-purpose bulding where the fire department had been the least of concern, with a three-man hose company operating a two-wheeled horse-drawn hose cart.
The original Station #2 (which was only 15 years old at the time) was demolished in 1903 and replaced with a more-useful three-bay firehouse (the one that is now a restaurant) built on the same site. It was at this point that a Seagrave combination truck was purchased for the company at Station #2 (as it became known as Truck Co. 2), with a six-man crew operating the combination truck and a four-wheeled hose cart. (A steamer was placed into service at Station #2 in 1911, as the company was expanded to nine-men and Truck Co. 2 became Engine Co. 2).
The EFD abandoned this facility in March 1955, moving Engine Co. 22 to the new Station #2 at 702 Madison Street (with Truck Co. 22 moving to Station #2 from Station #1, as the new Station #2 had space for a TDA).
The original Fire Station #3 opened at 2504 West Railroad Avenue (name changed to Green Bay Road in 1937) on January 31, 1901. It was initially assigned a three-man crew (Hose Co. 3) operating a four-wheeled hose cart (replaced by an H&L with a hose box in 1907 as the company became Truck Co. 3).
A steamer was moved to Station #3 in 1912 as the company was increasedc to nine men and re-designated Engine Co. 3, and the EFD remained there until the house was abandoned in January 1955. The building is now home to a photographer’s studio.
Engine Co. 23 (and the reserve truck that was also located there) relocated initially to the new Fire Station #5 at 2830 Central Street, and then Engine Co. 23 moved to the new Station #3 in September 1955, as Truck Co. 23 was organized at the new Station #3.
After the City Council declined ro purchase a new ladder truck for Station #3, Truck Co. 23 (operating with a 25-year old Seagrave 65-ft service aerial truck) was disbanded on January 1, 1963, with its personnel used to organize Squad Co. 21 at Station #1 (SQD21 was previously only staffed when needed).