Posts Tagged Jack Sweeting

Evanston Fire Department History – Part 11

Another installment about History of Evanston Fire Department

Annual EFD salaries in 1901 ranged from $1,500 (Fire Marshal) to $960 (Engineer) to $780 (Captain and Assistant Engineer) to $720 (Fireman). All company members worked 24 hours on duty followed by a 12-hour furlough. A fireman absent during a scheduled tour of duty was not paid, no matter the reason for the absence (illness, injury received on duty, or furlough). Meal breaks were taken at home or in a nearby restaurant.

At 11:20 AM on a bitter cold  Sunday December 15, 1901, and a fire was reported at the Hoyt Flats at 1301 Judson Ave. All residents were evacuated safely, but the Evanston Fire Department was unable to control the blaze, so assistance was requested from the Chicago Fire Department. Three firefighters were injured battling the blaze, as fireman Al Hofstetter of Engine Co. 1 sustained a sprained shoulder after falling from a ladder, fireman John Steward of Hose Co. 2 suffered frostbite to both feet, and fireman Charles Harvey of Chicago F. D. Truck Co. 25 sustained multiple bruises after falling from a frozen ladder. $15,000 damage to the flats was caused before the fire was extinguished, making it one of the top ten highest damage estimates from a fire in Evanston’s history up to that point in time.      

August 1902 saw Evanston firefighters Al Hofstetter, John Eckberg, Ed Johnson, and William Pruter and EFD horses “Bob” and “Dan” return triumphantly to Evanston after winning the prestigious “Firemen’s Competition” in Blue Island. The Evanston Military Band met the champs on Main Street, and, after a victory parade up Chicago Avenue, Davis Street area merchants hosted a dinner for the victors at the Avenue House hotel. The firemen won the contest by driving a harnessed team (that would be Bob and Dan) 1/3 of a mile, leading-out 150 feet of hose line from the hose cart, connecting the hose to a hydrant and a nozzle to the lead, and throwing water, all in 18.2 seconds. The firefighters collected a $75 prize, and it was extra oats for Bob and Dan.
       
The Evanston Firemen’s Benevolent Association (EFBA) was chartered with the State of Illinois on November 5, 1902. For more than ten years — until the Evanston Firemen’s Pension Fund was fully funded in December 1915 — the EFBA was the main source of support for disabled Evanston firemen, and for the families of deceased firefighters. An EFBA benefit show was held each December through 1912, usually a vaudeville show, musical revue, or play.

The first benefit show in 1902 was a screening of the now-classic Edwin S. Porter silent film melodrama The Life of an American Firemen, and the final show in 1912 was a performance of a play called The Still Alarm, featuring several Evanston firemen and two beloved EFD horses named “Sharkey” and “Buttons.” (Besides biting the buttons off the clothing of anyone who might come near, “Buttons” could also turn on a water faucet by himself, a feat he performed in the play).

Beginning in 1903, the City of Evanston purchased life insurance for each member of he fire department that would pay a member $5 per month in case of disability or illness, with a $1,000 survivor benefit in case of death. 

From 1900 to 1904, the Evanston Fire Department doubled in size. Manpower was increased  from 14 in 1900 to 28 in 1904, and the number of horses increased from eight to 16, as one engine company, two truck companies, and one hose company were in service in three modern fire stations by 1903.  

February 15, 1903 (in particular) was a big day for the Evanston Fire Department. 

1. The new (rebuilt) $6,000, three-bay Fire Station #2 at 750 Chicago Avenue opened:
2.  Manpower at Station #2 was increased from three to six (a captain, a lieutenant, and four firemen), as Hose Co. 2 was reorganized as a truck company (Truck Co. 2); 
3. A Seagrave combination truck (a combined hook & ladder and chemical engine) was placed in service at Station #2;     
4. The 15-man Engine Co. 1 was split into two companies, as Truck Co. 1 was organized at Fire Station # 1; 
5. A captain, a lieutenant, an engineer, an assistant engineer, and five firemen were assigned to Engine Co. 1, and a captain, a lieutenant, and four firemen were assigned to Truck Co. 1, with Engine Co. 1 operating with the Ahrens steamer and a hose wagon, and Truck Co. 1 operating with the Davenport H&L and the Babcock chemical engine;
6. George Hargreaves was promoted to captain, joining Jack Sweeting, Carl Harms, and Carl Harrison as the EFD’s four company officers, and firemen Albert Hofstetter, Thomas Norman, and John Watson were promoted to lieutenant (assistant company officer).

Only Hose Co. 3 at Fire Station #3 continued as a three -man company (as they did until 1912), with just a captain and two firemen operating with a four-wheeled two-axle hose wagon. 

All EFD rigs — the steamer, the H&L, the chemical engine, the combination truck, the three hose wagons, and the chief’s buggy — had a two-horse hitch.   

From the outset, Truck Co. 1 gained a reputation as the “bad boys” of the Evanston Fire Department. One member of the company was fired by the Civil Service Board in 1904 after being convicted of insubordination, and three more members of the company were fired and another was suspended when they were discovered drinking alcohol on-duty at the firehouse. The man who was suspended but not fired did not deny he was intoxicated, but he claimed he had been drinking at home prior to reporting for work, and that he would never drink while on duty. 

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Evanston Fire Department history – Part 5

Final installment from Phil Stenholm 

Evanston’s first three full-time paid firefighters were hired in June 1888 at an annual salary of $480 per man. Jack Sweeting, who had been one of the part-timers since the previous December, plus newcomers Edward Murray and James Peck. This was preceded by most of the members of the part-time company resigned en masse the previous August in a dispute with Chief Harrison over the issues of financial compensation for firemen, plus poor sanitary and living conditions in the firehouse (paint shop).  This was the second job action by Evanston firefighters. The third was when Murray and Peck, two of the new full-time firemen, refused to spend 2/3 of their day patrolling the Davis Street business district in search of violations of the Fire Limits ordinance. Murray and Peck were summarily fired for insubordination, and were replaced by Andrew Carroll and W. V. Rake.

In 1893, the company moved into the new city hall at the northwest corner of Davis & Sherman, across the alley from the old paint shop, and then to the new Police/Fire Public Safety HQ facility at the northwest corner of Grove & Sherman in 1897.

The company at Station #1, known as Engine Co. 1 beginning in 1895, would continue to grow over the years, so much so that it was split into two companies (Engine Co. 1 and Truck Co. 1) in 1903. George Hargreaves was the first captain of Truck Co. 1, with nine firefighters assigned to each of the two companies by 1904. 

Meanwhile, volunteer fire companies were organized in South Evanston and in North Evanston.

The ten-man South Evanston Fire Company was organized by Christopher Molinelli, after he was appointed Village of South Evanston Fire Marshal on July 16, 1888. The Village of South Evanston was incorporated on January 14, 1873. The South Evanston Fire Company was equipped with a hand-drawn hose-cart built by Edison Salisbury & Company, and purchased by the Village of South Evanston in 1884, plus a hand-drawn hook & ladder wagon, and occupied the south end of the South Evanston Village Hall that was dedicated on September 5, 1888 at the northwest corner of Chicago & Madison.

The Village of South Evanston was annexed by the Village of Evanston in 1892 thus forming the new City of Evanston. The South Evanston Fire Company was disbanded by Evanston Fire Marshal Sam Harrison on June 6th and replaced by two full-time paid fireman operating a horse-drawn hose cart. Carl Harms was the first captain at Station #2, and he spent his entire 26-year career there. Ed Densmore, a member of the South Evanston Fire Company transferred to the Evanston Fire Department after the South Evanston Fire Company was disbanded.

The Evanston Police Department also occupied the former South Evanston Village Hall from 1892 to 1897, utilizing the facility as its South Precinct under the command of former South Evanston Police Chief Henry Mersch, who was given the title of captain in the EPD. The old South Evanston Village Hall, constructed as a combination village hall/firehouse/police station-jail back when South Evanston was its own village, was razed and rebuilt as a more-traditional (and useful) three-bay firehouse on the same site during 1902. It was completed in February 1903. 

The North Evanston Fire Company was organized and accepted for service with the Evanston Fire Department on October 1, 1888, as water-mains were extended into North Evanston. Unlike the Village of South Evanston, North Evanston was part of the Village of Evanston after being annexed by the Village of Evanston section by section over a number of years. It was never a separate incorporated village. The 13-man North Evanston Fire Company was strictly a volunteer/auxiliary unit that was created mainly to provide fire protection for the Central Street business district. They we’re equipped only with a hand-drawn hose cart stored at the C&NW RR Central Street train depot The company could not go very far.

The North Evanston Fire Company was disbanded on January 31, 1901, when Hose Co. 3, a horse-drawn hose cart and three full-time paid firefighters was organized at the brand new Fire Station # 3 at 2504 West Railroad Avenue (later known as Green Bay Road).  None of the members of the North Evanston Fire Company joined the EFD when the company was disbanded as the company consisted mainly of merchants and wealthy squires who would have had no interest in a firefighting career. S. C. “Carl” Harrison, Jr, the son of Chief Sam Harrison, was the first captain assigned to Station # 3. Carl Harrison would later serve as Chief Fire Marshal, from December 14, 1905 until March 9, 1914. 

The full history starts HERE, then Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4

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Evanston Fire Department history – part 4

More from Phil Stenholm: Part 1Part 2Part 3

As promised, the trustees did attempt to organize a paid fire department in May 1882. They appropriated $850 to compensate the Fire Marshal and other firemen for their service with the fire department. The Fire Marshal was to be paid a part-time salary of $100 per year, each member of a nine-man part-time fire company would be paid $50 per year, and a full-time police/fire officer (combination village night-watchman/fire apparatus caretaker) would receive an annual salary of $600, with 1/2 of the salary to be paid by the police department, and 1/2 of the salary to be paid by the fire department.

Although Fire Marshal Bailey did receive his salary, and ex-Pioneer Hose Company member Austin McDonough was appointed as a full-time police/fire officer, the proposed nine-man part-time fire company did not materialize. The position of police/fire officer was eliminated in May 1885.

On May, 1, 1883, after two years of broken promises by the village board, Chief Bailey once again offered to resign. This time, the trustees accepted his resignation. However, by the spring of 1883, President J. J. Parkhurst and Trustees H. G. Lunt, C. L. Jenks, C. F. Grey, J. C. Allen, and Thomas Lord, the six members of the village board from May 1881, had mostly-all been replaced. Only President Parkhurst remained, and the newer trustees — especially former Evanston Firefighter Alexander Drummond — could see the urgency of establishing a fire company in Evanston that would be effective in fighting fires as the Pioneer and Gilbert hose companies had been, and at the same time, adequately compensated for service to the village.

On July 17, 1883, the Village of Evanston Board of Trustees appointed Davis Street merchant and former C. J. Gilbert Hose Company officer Sam Harrison to the position of Fire Marshal, and directed the new chief to organize a part-time/paid fire company. On July 28th, Chief Harrison who, like Bob Bailey, owned a butcher shop, offered the new 12-man company to the village board for consideration and approval. The company was officially accepted for service on November 6, 1883. Each member of the company was paid $40 per year as compensation for serving as a fireman, with the Fire Marshal still receiving $100.

The EFD’s first horse-drawn hose wagon, built by Evanstonian Gerhard Brienen, and pulled by a horse named Dave, was placed into service in October 1883, as the new fire company was moved into a remodeled paint shop located at the northwest corner of Sherman Avenue and the north alley of Davis Street (later to be the site of the first city parking garage).

In addition to the one-horse, four-wheeled two-axle hose wagon known as the Fire Patrol, and the two-horse Babcock chemical-engine (converted to a horse-drawn appliance in 1884), a horse-drawn hook & ladder wagon with a two-horse hitch built by the Davenport Fire Apparatus Company was placed into service in 1885. From 1885 to 1892, the two horses assigned to pull the hook & ladder truck were also used by the street department to pull a garbage wagon when not needed by the EFD. The Davenport truck remained in continuous front-line service for more than 32 years, until it was removed from service and scrapped in January 1918.

The new company formed by Sam Harrison in 1883 is the genesis of  Engine Co. 1 later known as Engine Co. 21. Chief Harrison personally commanded the company for the first few years, before turning the reigns over to J. E. “Jack” Sweeting in 1895. In addition to being the first captain of Engine Co. 1, Sweeting would also become the EFD’s first Assistant Chief Fire Marshal in 1905. Chief Sweeting spent all 25 of his years with the EFD as a member of Engine Co. 1. He died of stomach cancer on Christmas Day 1912. He also held the Evanston Fire Department’s longevity record for most years on the job, until George Hargreaves celebrated his Silver Anniversary in 1918.

At 10:45 PM on Tuesday, September 25, 1883, the new fire company responded to a report of smoke coming from the Dwight-Buell stable in the rear of the Avenue House at the northeast corner of Davis & Chicago. (The Avenue House hotel, with its quaint wrap-around porch, was torn down and replaced with the modern North Shore Hotel in 1916). Upon arrival at the stable, Chief Sam Harrison was advised that 31-year old coachman George Gale (like Harrison, a native of England) was probably asleep inside. Despite repeated efforts by firemen, Gale died of smoke inhalation before he could be rescued. Since the fire was an obvious case of arson, the Cook County Coroner ruled the death a homicide. There was a belief around the village that the fire behind the Avenue House was related to other recent arson fires in the village, fires that started soon after the new fire company was formed. However, the fires stopped immediately after Gale was killed, and no one was ever charged with his murder.

At 8:50 AM on Thursday, December 20, 1883, a fire was reported at Evanston Township High School. Located at the northeast corner of Crain & Benson (Benson Avenue south of Davis Street was later known as Elmwood Avenue), ETHS was only three months old. Evanston fire fighters were not yet familiar with the floor-plan of the new facility, and had difficulty navigating through the smoky interior. Fearing his men could become trapped while searching for the seat of the blaze, Chief Harrison telegraphed an urgent request for assistance to the Chicago Fire Department, marking the first time in its history that the EFD requested mutual-aid from another fire department. At approximately 11 AM, an express train (engine, coal tender, coach, box car, and flat car) loaded with a steam fire engine, a hose reel, spare hose, ladders, and other fire fighting equipment — plus CFD Assistant Fire Marshal George Petrie (chief of the CFD repair shops) with 10 men–arrived in Evanston, a scant 19 minutes after departing from Chicago. Within another hour, the fire was extinguished, and ETHS was saved with only $5,000 in damage and no injuries.

Sam’s boys were not always quite so successful, however. On Sunday night, November 22, 1884, the First Congregational Church at Grove & Hinman was destroyed by fire after firefighters opened the doors and windows in an effort to ventilate heat and smoke from the building, unintentionally letting in a fierce wind that fanned a relatively small blaze into a fire-storm.  The neighborhood was saved, but not the church, which sustained a $32,000 loss. Twenty-year old rookie fireman Tim Kelleher, at his first fire, suffered smoke inhalation that developed into a respiratory infection, which led to consumption (tuberculosis), and eventually his death in July 1888. How much the smoke inhalation actually contributed to his death some 3-1/2 years later was disputed at the time and is still not known for sure, but it certainly could have been a factor.

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