Stop 12 – Uniforms Adopted

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Around eighteen sixty-nine, the fire companies began wearing official uniforms, but only for ceremonies and formal occasions like balls. There was no such thing as protective gear for fighting fires yet.

Each of the three companies had its own uniform, and the styles changed several times to keep up with fashions among firemen across the country. It wasn't until nineteen-oh-six, when the companies merged, that everyone wore the same uniform.

The photographs on this panel show several of those uniforms, including the Great Western Fire Company in eighteen eighty-three, and again in nineteen ten.

At the bottom of the panel, you'll learn how the steam engines were manned. Before the department had horses and a paid driver, it hired an engineer to tend the steamer. The first was W. R. Hickey, who earned fifty dollars a month, and that included his duties as town marshal. He even had a bedroom on the first floor of the eighteen seventy-two engine house. The steamer's firebox was always kept loaded with quick-burning kindling, and the fire was lit before the engine left the station, so it would have steam up by the time it reached the fire.