This month the Champaign Fire Department is celebrating its 150th Anniversary (1865-2015) and they will be observing the occasion with a parade and a Fire Muster this coming Sunday, July 19, 2015.
Part of the activities that day will be a mobile history museum of the Champaign Fire Department. Here at the Archives we thought we would get the commemorative ball rolling with some historical pictures from our collection.
Champaign Fire Department’s "Belle Engine & Hose Co. No. 1," 1880. The Belle of Champaign, as it was known, was built at the Cole Bros. manufactory in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It weighed 4,700 pounds and cost $4,300. It featured double pumps, 24 feet of suction pipe, and 1,500 feet of hose.
Champaign Fire Department wagon, 1906
John Ely, became the first full-time, paid, Fire Chief serving from 1908 to 1927. During Chief Ely's service the first motorized equipment was received by the department.
Firefighters at Sigma Chi fraternity house fire that took place Thursday evening, October 18, 1973. No one was injured in the blaze but 35 firemen from the Champaign and U of I departments worked at the scene.
Monica Hall, Champaign's 1st female firefighter, 1998
- Sherrie, Archives Librarian