Description: Hand-colored photograph showing six firemen in Circleville, Ohio, ca. 1850-1859. The men seated in front are holding firefighting trumpets, which were used to "call out" or announce the fire to assemble the call men, who were local citizens who assisted regular firefighters in putting out fires. They received a small payment for each fire they attended. In 1853, the city of Cincinnati became the first to employ a professional fire department, made up of 100% full-time, paid employees. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04118
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Popular Culture; Fire fighters; Fire engines & equipment; Fire prevention
Places: Circleville (Ohio); Pickaway County (Ohio)
 

Description: Illustration titled "A Fire in Cincinnati," which originally appeared in the October 30, 1858, issue of Harper's Weekly. It accompanied an article about the Fire Department of Cincinnati and its use of a steam-powered fire engine. In 1853, the city of Cincinnati became the first to employ a professional fire department, made up of 100% full-time, paid employees. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04119
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio); Cultural Ohio--Popular Culture; Fires; Harper's Weekly; Fire fighters; Fire engines & equipment
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing veterans of Cleveland's volunteer fire department in 1890, from the collection of Louis Baus. Baus, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, was born in 1875. He began his career as a professional photographer doing studio work before becoming a staff photographer for the Cleveland Advocate in 1911. Baus worked for the paper, which was later purchased by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, for thirty-eight years until his death in 1949. He was also an avid collector of historic photographs. The Louis Baus Collection consists of over one thousand photographs mounted in eleven albums, showing historic Cleveland, the village of Zoar and Ohio covered bridges and mills. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P223_B03_A08_778
Subjects: Cleveland (Ohio); Fire fighters; Fire engines & equipment; Fire prevention
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Taken by photographer Louis Baus, this photographic reproduction shows firefighters of the Zoar Fire Department in 1869 posing at the rear of the Zoar Hotel. A note on the reverse of the photograph identifies the men as (from left to right) Johnathan Breymaier, John Beiter (tall blacksmith), Frank Kinzley, Dr. Clemence Breil-chief, Sebastian Burkhardt, William Kuecherer, Anthony Burkhardt, Simon Beiter Jr., and Louis Heid. Led by Joseph Bimeler in 1817, a group of Lutheran separatists left the area of Germany known as Wurttemberg and eventually established the small community of Zoar in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. They would become known as the Society of Separatists of Zoar in 1819. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P223_B04_S02_A1_97
Subjects: Photography; Society of Separatists of Zoar; Religious Societies; Communal societies; Fire fighters; Fire engines & equipment
Places: Zoar (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows the Hotel Fetter during a fire in downtown Upper Sandusky, Ohio, in November 1918. Smoke pours from the top of the building and a fire hose sprays water at a third story window. The roof of the building has already burned and the bricks on the third story are beginning to collapse. The sign on the side of the building reads "Hotel Fetter--European Restaurant--Quick Lunch." A group of men stand watching in the bottom right of the photo. All guests at the Hotel Fetter were safely evacuated and the staff had time to save the contents before the building caught fire. The fire caused two fatalities and $250,000 in damages overall. Photograph by Harry Evan Kinley (1882-1969), a native of Upper Sandusky. Kinley was active in local events and organizations, and spent his professional career as a clerk at his father's department store, and later as a traveling salesman for the Marion Paper & Supply Company (1934-1962). He was also an avid lifelong photographer, and the bulk of the Harry Kinley Collection is comprised of glass plate negatives documenting the Kinley family, the city of Upper Sandusky and Wyandot County and surrounding areas. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV30_B04F05_29
Subjects: Fires; Upper Sandusky (Ohio); Hotels; Fire fighters
Places: Upper Sandusky (Ohio); Wyandot County (Ohio);
 

Description: Original description reads: "Fireman's band of Dayton, Ohio, directed by K[?]. A. Rarre of Emergency Schools. This band would have disbanded without this direction." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B12F08_024_001
Subjects: Bands (Music); Musicians--Ohio; Fire fighters--Ohio
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: Black-and-white photograph of the City of Columbus Fire Department with crew and horse-drawn equipment, posed in front of the Ohio Statehouse, 1865. Listed by name are the Department Chief, workers at the North, South and Central Engine Houses, and Extra Hosemen. The men listed include: I.H. Marrow (Chief); North: William McGuire (Foreman), Henry S. Layton, Samuel Reed and John Piffer; Central: Mark Newman (Foreman), James F. Fleming, William W. Ferguson and John Roder; South: Thomas Winstanly (Foreman), H. Thomas, Christian Felker and Louis Becker; Extra Hosemen: John Poland and John White. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS_4014
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--History--19th century; Fire engines & equipment; Fire fighters; Ohio Statehouse (Columbus, Ohio)--Pictorial works;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of a fireman as seen through a broken greenhouse window and surrounded by smoke in Columbia Township, Ohio, and titled "Portrait of a Fireman." The image was submitted by photographer John G. Kenney of Elyria, Ohio, in the Professional category of the Spirit of Ohio Bicentennial Photograph Contest. In August 1976, the Ohio American Revolution Bicentennial Advisory Committee (OARBAC) began the Spirit of Ohio Bicentennial Photo Contest as part of a larger effort in Ohio to celebrate the 1976 American Bicentennial. The contest was meant to document "the spirit and character of the people and places which represent Ohio during [the] bicentennial year," and to create a permanent photographic archive of the year's festivity for use by future researchers. Both professional and amateur photographers submitted over 500 photographs for consideration, all taken within the state between January 1 and December 31, 1976. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA2734AV_B03F06_08_01
Subjects: American Revolution Bicentennial (1976); Fire fighters; Greenhouses;
Places: Columbia Township (Ohio); Columbia (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio);
 

Description: This image of an early fire engine and firefighters in Cincinnati, Ohio, is from the "Illustrated London News." Observers in a tower note smoke in the distance and ring a bell to sound the alarm. The man in the back uses a firefighting trumpet, used to "call out" or announce the fire to assemble the call men. The image illustrates the technological limitations of early fire departments, even in fairly large cities. Before the introduction of horse-drawn fire engines in the mid-19th century, and later fire trucks, following the invention of the automobile, most fire engines were maneuvered by men. In 1853, the city of Cincinnati became the first to employ a professional fire department, made up of 100% full-time, paid employees. "Illustrated London News" had a wide circulation in the 19th century, and collections of issues were often bound together and saved by families so that children could read them for years to come. This image comes from a detached page that was hand-colored. Such illustrations are valuable, and were sometime separated from intact issues to be sold by antique dealers. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS4552
Subjects: Fire engines & equipment; Fire fighters; Social services; Public safety; Cincinnati (Ohio)--History;
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Membership certificate from the Washington Court House, Ohio, Fire Department to F. M. Kennedy for five years of service, 1888. This certificate is from the era of the volunteer firefighter. The images show the popular view of firemen at that time, and illustrate scenes of firemen fighting fires, rescuing women and children, pulling a fire engine and blowing a fire trumpet. Tools and equipment of the profession are pictured as well. The certificate reads: "This certifies that F. M. Kennedy has been a member of the Fire Department of Washington C. H. Ohio for the period of 5 years, and by the faithful and honorable discharge of his duties, is entitled to all the exemptions allowed by Law for such service. In witness whereof we have signed our names hereto and affixes the Dept seal this 5th day of April 1888. John Stillman, Chief; R. Bell, Sec." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS5517
Subjects: Fire engines & equipment; Fire fighters; Public safety; Volunteering;
Places: Washington Court House (Ohio); Fayette County (Ohio)
 

Description: This 5"" by 12"" (12.7 by 30.48 cm) photograph was taken during the 1913 flood in Warren, Ohio. The photograph depicts men battling a fire on the bridge within inches of the overflowing Mahoning River. Onlookers are carrying umbrellas, indicating that the fire, flood, and rain are all happening simultaneously. Warren, Ohio is the county seat of Trumbull County. It is approximately 20 miles upstream from Youngstown on the Mahoning River. In late March 1913, an unusually heavy rainstorm moved into Ohio. It rained steadily for five days and the streams all over Ohio rose rapidly. By the third day of the downpour, levees were overtopped and many towns suffered disastrous flooding. Great fires that raged unchecked added to the destruction and the loss of life. When the flood waters receded, tons of mud and debris covered the streets, homes, businesses and factories. The death toll stood at 361. Property damages were well over $100,000,000 and 65,000 were forced to temporarily leave their homes. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1626_1867274_001
Subjects: Transportation; Climate and Weather; Floods; Bridges; Fires; Fire fighters; Umbrellas; Rain
Places: Warren (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)