Archive of posts filed under the History category.

Apex Volunteer Fire Department Minutes 1956 to 1979

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October 2020 Read complete research document of transcribed minutes at www.legeros.com/history/library/minutes/ November 2019 Found in my files, excerpts from transcribed minutes of the Apex Volunteer Fire Department Inc., from 1956 to 1979. Below are some highlights that caught my eye. See related historical photos in this album from the Raleigh Fire Museum: www.flickr.com/photos/raleighfiremuseum/albums/72157687765234902 Note, will …

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Fire Protection is Weak at Raleigh – 1911

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The June 1911 issue of Fire & Water Engineering Magazine, Issue 24, Volume 49, featured this story on a fire protection report issued by the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Read more about the 1911 report, as well as the 1924 report and 1931 report. Editor’s Note: This report compelled city officials to reorganize the …

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Brad Harvey as Interim Fire Chief

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This was originally posted to Legeros Fire Line as a Facebook posting. Who’s the new Car 1 in Raleigh, following the retirement of Chief McGrath on [November 1]? Last week, interim Chief of Department was announced as… drum roll… retired Asst. Chief Brad Harvey. More on Chief McGrath’s retirement in a moment. Chief Harvey came …

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Raleigh Retrospective – 2006 to 2019

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The city of Raleigh has been served by sixteen career Fire Chiefs since 1912. And effective [tomorrow, November 1, 2019], Fire Chief John T. McGrath has retired. That’s a historical milestone, as he’s the city’s second-longest serving fire chief, with 13.8 years of service. Only Chief Keeter (1955 to 1973) had a longer tenure, with …

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Greensboro’s 1904 American LaFrance Steam Engine #496

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Here’s a history of American LaFrance steam engine #496, built in 1904 for Greensboro, NC, and later owned by private collectors in North Carolina and Florida, and finally residing at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio. The restored steamer is being auction. This text and these images were copied from the auction listing.  “Built for …

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The “Hooks” of a Hook & Ladder

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What did the “hooks” look like on the original hook and ladder trucks? Master historian Matt Lee included this picture in his 1997 book “A Pictorial History of the Fire Engine – Volume I.”[1] It’s one of the best pictures and explanations that I’ve come across. Note that there are two of them, a curved …

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Wake Forest Plans Merger with Town

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The Wake Forest Fire Department is planning a merger with the Town of Wake Forest, effective July 1, 2010. From this web page: Like many communities in North Carolina, the Town of Wake Forest is experiencing significant transition and growth in service demand, thereby increasing the challenges of providing core local government functions, including fire and …

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Visual History of North Carolina Steam Fire Engines

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Time for another chart! Here’s the visual history of the steam fire engines in North Carolina, beginning with their heyday in the 1860s and 1870s. They were labor savers that transformed the hand-powered fire service, although a few steamers were also hand-pulled during their early years. See the chart in JPG format (2.4M) or PDF …

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Miss Lillian Brown – Mascot of Greensboro’s Eagle Hose Company

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From the Department of Gender Studies, here are a couple stories from the 1890s about the Greensboro Fire Department’s Eagle Hose Company’s “mascot,” Miss Lillian Brown. Plus a photograph that appeared in the 1896 proceedings of the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association. Newspapers copied from newspapers.com, via free access from the NC State Government & …

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