From Phil Stenholm:
Another Chapter in the History of the Evanston Fire Department
The transformation of Evanston's landscape was remarkable between 1907 and 1912. The North Shore Channel sanitary canal was constructed during these years, and the city council mandated the raising of most railroad tracks within Evanston's borders. Built by the Sanitary District of Chicago, the North Shore Channel aimed to connect Lake Michigan at Wilmette Harbor to the north branch of the Chicago River near Foster and Sacramento. By channeling water from Lake Michigan, sewage could be flushed south to a treatment facility at Howard Street. This initiative prevented raw sewage from being discharged into Lake Michigan off Evanston and Wilmette, reducing the risk of typhoid fever and cholera outbreaks that had periodically plagued these North Shore suburbs.
Simultaneously, both railroads operating in Evanston—the Chicago and North Western (C&NWRR) and the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul (CM&StP, or "The Milwaukee Road")—were tasked with elevating their main tracks and building viaducts from Howard Street to the Wilmette border. The C&NWRR freight tracks, known as the Mayfair Division, didn't need elevation south of Church Street since they were primarily used for switching freight cars at industrial sites in west and southwest Evanston. Similarly, the Milwaukee Road tracks, now part of the CTA lines, were only elevated as far north as Church Street after the CM&StPRR agreed to halt train operations north of downtown Evanston.
On the morning of Friday, April 26, 1912, the Evanston Fire Department (EFD) responded to a structure fire at Church and Dodge Streets. Upon arrival, firefighters discovered multiple homes ablaze. The fire originated in an unfinished house belonging to Renaldo Roberti at 1819 Church Street, spreading to the adjacent William Marion residence at 1817 Church Street. Marion’s daughter Pearl leapt from a second-story window into the arms of neighbor Emil Pavel, who had just rescued his family from their home at 1715 Dodge Avenue. While the EFD managed to save the Pavel residence, flames consumed the Frank Kuzik house at 1717 Dodge Avenue, the Lewis Titus house at 1809 Church Street, the Ludwig Veiter house at 1807 Church Street, along with the Roberti and Marion homes. High winds complicated firefighting efforts, but no civilian or firefighter injuries occurred, and the blaze was contained without spreading further north or east. This marked the first time all three EFD engines—the Robinson motor engine, the American-LaFrance Metropolitan steamer, and the Ahrens Metropolitan steamer—operated together at a single fire. The total damage amounted to $11,250.
The 1912 fire at Church and Dodge was by far the most severe in the 5th ward's history. Home to many immigrants and African Americans, the 5th ward was Evanston's poorest and most politically isolated ward, lacking a significant business district, high-value residential properties, a university, or a shared border with Chicago. Without the influence of other wards, the 5th ward often fought its political battles alone. When Chief Carl Harrison proposed constructing a fourth fire station at Emerson and Ashland in 1912—the heart of the 5th ward—there was little support from the city council beyond the two 5th ward aldermen.
A month later, on May 29, 1912, the EFD, alongside Chicago Fire Department engines 70 and 112, tackled a blaze at the Bogart Building at 1306 Sherman Avenue. Firefighting efforts stretched into the afternoon as both departments worked to extinguish the stubborn fire. The first-floor Workers Cooperative Grocery store and North Shore Creamery, along with second and third-floor apartments, were severely damaged. The total damage reached $16,700, making it one of Evanston's ten worst fires in terms of property loss up to that point.
During the summer of 1913, the EFD introduced a mechanical resuscitator called the "Lung Motor" at Fire Station #1, achieving immediate success. Demonstrated at Evanston Hospital the previous October, the Lung Motor proved so effective that the Evanston Fire Department earned a $25 award from the Life Saving Devices Company of Chicago as the "Top Life Savers in the Nation" at the end of 1913. The department also fielded mutual-aid requests for the Lung Motor from neighboring North Shore suburbs and occasionally responded to Rogers Park in Chicago.
Initially stationed on the Robinson auto-truck at Station #1, frequent inhalator calls took the motor engine out of service too often. In May 1916, when an automobile police ambulance replaced the horse-drawn ambulance east of Fire Station #1, a joint police-fire policy began, assigning a fireman to accompany two police officers in the ambulance for inhalator calls, keeping the motor engine free for fire responses.
The first Evanston police ambulance, built by William Erby & Sons on a White Motor Company chassis, served for eleven years before being destroyed in a collision with a bus in September 1927. At that point, the inhalator returned to Engine Co. 1. Starting in 1952, the inhalator was placed on the EFD's new rescue truck (Squad 21), and by 1959, inhalators were assigned to all five engine companies.
This evolution highlights the growing sophistication of the Evanston Fire Department, adapting to new challenges and technologies while serving its diverse community.
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