Stop 15 – More Than Just Putting Out Fires

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Fire companies weren't only about fighting fires. They were a big part of the town's social life.

The companies held dances, dinners, and other events, partly for fun and partly to raise money for equipment. A ball was often led off by a parade, with the firemen in full uniform and every piece of apparatus decorated. Over the years, the whole community looked forward to them. You can see an ad for the Otoe Hook and Ladder Company's Washington's Birthday Ball from eighteen seventy-three, and a photo of a firemen's banquet at Eagle Hall in nineteen-oh-eight.

As travel between towns got easier, firemen across Nebraska wanted to get together and compete. The first state gathering was in Omaha in eighteen seventy-three, with a parade, a picnic, and a ball. In eighteen eighty-three, the departments formed the Nebraska State Firemen's Association, later renamed the Nebraska State Volunteer Firemen's Association. Its first convention and tournament was held in Lincoln that August.

Nebraska City hosted the state convention in nineteen-oh-two, nineteen-oh-eight, and nineteen fifteen. The two big group photos here were taken in front of the Otoe County Courthouse.