STLToday.com

Home > Buy historic photos & newspaper pages
Look Back: St. Louis Fire Department
Date: 9/10/2010 Album ID: 1073618
Photos by Post-Dispatch archives
Slideshow icon View Slideshow
On Sept. 14, 1857, Henry Clay Sexton became St. Louis’ first fire chief (formally, "chief engineer") at a salary of $1,000. He had 30 employees and three steam fire engines. As the city grew in bounds, so did its fire department. In 1910, with the city population at 687,000, the department had 50 engines and 17 hook-and-ladder trucks.
Members of the Union Fire Company, one of the city's early volunteer units, show off their new hand-pump fire engine in 1851. The Union company had its station on Third Street, just south of Washington Avenue. St. Louis had 12 volunteer companies by the 1850s, when city leaders began pushing for a paid fire department as part of local government. The volunteer companies strongly resisted, but the city finally established the St. Louis Fire Department in 1857. Henry Clay Sexton, the first chief, took office on Sept. 14, 1857, for an annual salary of $1,000. He had been chief of the Mound volunteer Fire Company, at North Broadway and Brooklyn Street, just north of present-day downtown. His company sold its fire truck and house to the city for $250. Gunsmith Samuel Hawken helped to organize the Union company 1832. It disbanded in 1855. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Assistant fire Chief Frank Egenreither (left) wears the new uniform that the department adopted in 1932. Firefighter James Wicher wears the old horse-team driver's coat, with the brass buttons on its long tail. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Five Washington University students pose with an antique steam-powered fire engine on Oct. 14, 1932, during the annual fire prevention week. The old engine was parked at Kingshighway and Lindell Boulevard. Firefighters kept hot water in the boilers and fuel in the fireboxes, and would ignite the fuel upon receiving calls. This steam engine originally was pulled by horses, but is shown with a one-wheeled motorized tractor that was installed in 1918. The department didn't use modified tractor-steamers long because they were unstable, sometimes falling over on tight turns. Standing along the engine are, from left, Helen Wallace, Dorothy Lehnertz, Hope Bridges, Muriel Hicks and Norma Branditz. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Men seeking work as firefighters on Feb. 14, 1940, with the Great Depression still on. War industries had begun hiring, but unemployment was still at almost 15 percent. E.F. Gaffney, chief examiner for the city, meets with some of the 2,243 applicants who sought 40 firefighter jobs. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Firefighters at Engine House 15/39, at 415 South Broadway downtown, boil eggs on March 22, 1940, for the annual Easter Egg hunts in nine city parks. Working the stove are, from left, private Coleman, Capt. Kern, Capt. Haley and private Holdenried. The fire house was demolished in the 1960s. The new Busch Stadium is on that site. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Deputy fire chief James Sauerwein sits at the wheel of and old water tower truck on July 23, 1954, shortly before it was retired from service. The department bought the 65-foot tower in 1885 and pulled it with a team of horses. In 1928, one year after the department retired its last horse teams, its mechanics hooked the tower to the motor-powered tractor. It was in service until 1950. The tower was an early version of the snorkel booms on today's fire trucks, allowing firefighters to shoot water down onto fires. Standing next to the old device is the department's master mechanic, Fred Witler. They are shown in a bay at the department garage, Spruce Street and 12th Boulevard (now Tucker), which still is in use. (Lloyd Spainhower/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
A firefighter gamely shows off a new 50-foot ladder during a demonstration downtown on Jan. 30, 1941. He is trusting in the support of the five fellow firefighters who are holding the guy lines. In the background is the old city Municipal Courts building, at Market and 13th streets. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Members of Engine Company 32 with their new mascot, Belle, on an obviously pleasant Jan. 15, 1952. The company had just adopted their Dalmatian from the Humane Society of Missouri. With Belle are, in front from left are Marty McManus, Carl Sawyer and Capt. Joseph Ellebrecht; in back from left are Capt. Harold Wertich, John Dewein, William Muehleisen and Charles Mueller. Their fire house was at 20th and St. Charles streets, west of downtown. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The wrecks of two fire trucks that collided at Vandeventer and Easton avenues about 8:40 a.m. on June 9, 1952, killing three firefighters and injuring six. (Easton now is Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard.) Hook and ladder Number 9 was northbound on Vandeventer and Pumper Number 17 was westbound on Easton. Both were headed to a call at 4040 St. Ferdinand Avenue for what proved to be a minor fire in a vacant building. The wrecked trucks ended up on a service station lot on the northwest corner of the intersection. Killed were firefighters Bernard Crump, 29, Clarence H. Paschang, 25, and William H. Grady, 37. (Lester Linck/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Firefighters show off their vintage, working equipment on May 15, 1955, at a fire house at 1304 South 18th Street. At left is a 1919 American LaFrance hook and ladder, which could push its ladder 85 feet into the air. At right is a 1922 LaFrance pumper. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The Fire Department lines up nine new LaFrance pumpers in front of Soldiers' Memorial on Nov. 13, 1956. The new trucks cost $15,347 each and could pump 1,000 gallons per minute. This year, the department is buying new Smeal pumpers at $450,000 apiece. They will throw 2,250 gallons per minute. (David Gulick/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Firefighter Joseph P. Oliver explains the workings of a 1926-vintage fire truck outside of the Jefferson Memorial (now the Missouri History Museum) in Forest Park on Nov. 1, 1965. The event was part of a local history series. Learning about firefighting are, from left, Jesse R. Coons, 8, Tony Higgins, 7, and Robert S. Martin, 9. Jesse Coons is holding an old megaphone, forerunner of the bullhorn. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Firefighter Levonia Edwards scales a high ladder on Aug. 13, 1984, during the Great Fire Engine Rally in Forest Park. (Jerry Naunheim Jr./Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Firefighters ring the blazing roof of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church with snorkel ladders and streams of water on April 28, 1994. Lightning had struck the roof while 8 a.m. Mass was underway. The spreading fire turned much of the high wooden roof into a fireball glowing in low storm fog. But the fire department stationed trucks around the south St. Louis landmark and quickly blasted it with streams of water from the high snorkels. By keeping the roof from collapsing into the church, the firefighters saved St. Anthony's. After the fire was extinguished and the front doors were opened, a foot or more of water inside the church rushed into Meramec Street. The 90-year-old church was rebuilt and remains both a Catholic parish and a popular setting for weddings. Its twin spires, at 175 feet, tower over a wide area of the South Side. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Firefighters demonstrate a new 105-foot ladder truck at the downtown fire house on May 16, 1996. On the platform are, from left, city public safety director Ed Tripp, Fire Chief Neil Svetanics, city Comptroller Darlene Green and fire Capt. Bruce Tucker. The truck cost $600,000. (Wendi Fitzgerald/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
MyCapture, Inc. - A Second Street Media, Inc. Solution
© MyCapture, Inc. - A Second Street Media, Inc. Solution All rights reserved.

FAQ | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Order Status