From Phil Stenholm:
Another installment in 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 next to the Greenwood Inn—once known as the “French Houseâ€â€”at the corner of Greenwood and Hinman. At the time, the Greenwood Inn was one of two hotels in Evanston, the other being the famous Avenue House on 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 flames to retrieve her belongings before being rescued by EFD firefighters. She was later arrested for disorderly conduct and disobeying an officer. The stable suffered $3,000 in damage, but no one was injured, and the quick response of the EFD saved the hotel from destruction.
Two weeks later, on January 28, 1915, the EFD responded to a fire at Mrs. I.C. Danwood’s boarding house at 1925 Sherman Ave. Boarder C.C. Firman fractured both ankles when he jumped from a second-floor window to escape the flames before firefighters arrived. Upon arrival, EFD found fire blowing through the roof. Though they rescued all other boarders safely, the fire suppression was delayed when a fire hydrant stem broke off during connection. They eventually connected to another hydrant further away, but the initial delay led to the total loss of the house and its contents, costing $7,000. However, the EFD managed to save surrounding buildings by taking defensive positions and using an elevated master stream from the HDA’s aerial ladder and a high-pressure stream from the Eastman "deluger" on the street.
On April 20, 1915, voters in Wilmette approved a $20,000 bond to purchase a motorized fire engine and build a combined police/fire station on the west side of Railroad Avenue south of Lake Ave. In late 1915, Wilmette received an American-LaFrance Type 75, a triple-combination pumper with a 750-GPM capacity, which served as their first-due engine for over 25 years. The station operated for 50 years, marking a major shift toward motorized firefighting in the region.
At 2 PM on Sunday, May 15, 1915, an explosion occurred in the film-developing room of the Will E. Horton camera shop in the Simpson Building on Davis Street. All three of the EFD’s engine companies responded, but the shop was gutted, and the adjacent C.H. Morgan grocery store suffered heavy smoke damage. Total damage was estimated at $8,500.
At noon on July 3, 1915, 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 fire was sparked by a wayward 4th of July bottle rocket. Flames spread quickly to neighboring homes, but the EFD managed to contain the blaze before it spread further. The Patterson residence and nearby homes suffered significant roof and second-floor damage. Fireman William Wilbern of Engine Co. 2 was slightly injured when the roof collapsed on him while 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 firefighting equipment had improved significantly since Evanston purchased its Robinson Jumbo in 1911 and predicted that horse-drawn rigs would soon be replaced nationwide.
Hofstetter also highlighted a new fully-automated aerial ladder demonstrated at the convention. Built by Ahrens-Fox on a Couple Gear chassis, it combined the Dahill Air Hoist system with an 85-foot wooden ladder from Pirsch, allowing one man to raise it in just 11 seconds. In contrast, the 1907 American-LaFrance 85-foot HDA in Evanston required two men to manually crank the windlass.
On January 8, 1916, Rosenberg’s Department Store at 820 Davis St. was gutted by fire. Two Chicago FD engine companies, Engine Co. 102 and 110, assisted. Both 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 performance under real conditions.
Thousands gathered at Fountain Square as Evanston and Chicago firefighters worked through the night. All three pumpers ran out of gas after the EFD’s 120-gallon reserve was exhausted, but more fuel was eventually found. EFD Captain Ed Johnson of Motor Engine Co. 1 was seriously injured but later recovered. The fire caused $58,700 in damages, setting a new record for the second-highest fire loss in Evanston’s history up to that point.
The American-LaFrance horse-drawn 85-foot windlass-operated aerial ladder truck (HDA), purchased in 1907 for $6,700, was in service for only nine years. It was destroyed in a collision with an Evanston Street Railway Company streetcar at Grove and Sherman while responding to an alarm on Hinman Avenue in the early evening of September 18, 1916. Two firefighters, Dan McKimmons and Orville Wheeler, were thrown to the ground and seriously injured when the rig tipped over.
The Evanston Street Railway Company claimed the crash was unavoidable and refused to accept responsibility, leading the City of Evanston to file a lawsuit against the company’s insurance. Unfortunately, the city had not insured the HDA, so winning the case was the only way to cover the cost without an emergency appropriation or a bond issue.
While waiting for the court case to resolve, the Evanston City Council decided to sell two of the four horses assigned to the HDA and lease a two-horse hook-and-ladder truck from American LaFrance for $60 per month. This ex-Peru rig, previously in service in 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. The EFD then 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. The Chattanooga FD had recently purchased an automobile 75-foot TDA from American LaFrance, and the old HDA was traded in as part of the deal. This vintage HDA was unique because the tillerman rode below the aerial ladder.
To replace the ex-Peru H&L, the EFD needed another horse, so the venerable 1873 Babcock double-50-gallon chemical engine was taken out of service, and its horse was transferred to the HDA. Eventually, the EFD returned the Lucille McQuade to American LaFrance, and the three horses were retired after a new Seagrave ladder truck arrived in November 1917. This marked the completion of Evanston’s $30,000 bond issue passed in April 1917, which fully motorized the EFD.
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