The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Wilmettes 75th Anniversary 1872-1947 WILMETTE LIFE Wilmettes history occurred in the Recall Several Bigfall of 1918, when the garage owned bFire Losses During Wye bKeutten Brothers and operated byr and Allen at 733 Green BayDepartmentroad (now Ray Meiers Beverages Historycompany) burned to the ground withAnswerina loss of a million dollars. The fire,g many three alarm fireswhich was started by the furnace,in its 52-year history, the Wilmette destroyed 35 cars.fire department counted 309 calls and275 fires for last year, and 314 callsThe garage was later damagedand 233 fires during 1945.by fire in January, 1922, when itwas owned by Weber and Schmidt.Several conflagrations, ranging indamageProbably one of the most serious from $10,000 to $1,000,000,areand dangerous fires started during -outstanding events in the rec-ordsthe early part of 1935, at Lymans of the fire department. Two occurred Drug store, Fourth and Linden ave- to property owned by membersnue, and resulted in a tremendous of the pioneer Hoffmann damage and loss.family of old Gross Point. In the fall of 1906, a large barn at the Other large fires of note were at Hoffmann Brothers Coal and Lumber the Presbyterian church, which wasy.ard burned to the ground, consum-completely destroyed on December ing wagons, harnesses, and lumber,19, 1929, and at the St. Augustinesand killing three horses.Episcopal church on October 6, 1942.Lose Store in 1908Help Fight Winnetka BlazeDemolished by fire in 1908, wasBecause the Winnetka fire depart-,the five-year old general merchan-ment had no pumper, the Wilmettedise store which the Hoffmann Broth-department with its newly acquireders had erected at Wilmette ave-machine was called there on Sep-nue and Ridge road. The fire wastember 12, 1919, to fight a fire whichSTORY OF CONTRASTS One of the first two pieces of fire equipmentmore devastating because Wilmettewas enveloping a square block ofpurchased by the village in 1894, is shown above. Standing on the hosehad no pumping machines until 1916,property owned by Banker M. K.cart, which belonged to Department Number 2, is Albert Zibble, thenand had to depend on fire hydrantMeyer. The fact that the Winnetka2% and now a member of the Wilmette Fire department. With thepressure, which often sank as low asTrust and Savings bank, formerlyforce since 1935, Mr. Zibble was born and raised in the first fire sta-four pounds during the summerthe Bank of M. K. Meyer, was savedtionmonths.has been credited to Wilmettes aid., which was located on Central avenue.Incidentally, the cart was photographed on the present location ofAbouThe rest of the business propertyt 1918, seven stores on EastLloyd Hollister Inc. The buildings in the background are, from leftRailroawas demolished completely.d avenue, owned by the Chi-to right, the Edgar T. Paul barn, the Happ blacksmith shop andcago, North Shore and MilwaukeeThe Wilmette fire department alsothe Kutten garage.railroad, were completely destroyedaided at the Miralago fire (in NoIn sharp contrast is the modern engine, lower picture, which wasby fire.Mans Land), which occurred inpurchased in 1942.One of the most expensive fires inMarch, 1932.Handa horse owned by Hendersons Liv--\ Pulledery, would report to the fire depart-ment at the sound of the alarm, noCartsmatter where he was in the villageand with or without his driver. BecameRetain Paid DriverIn 1906, Walter H. Zibble, a horse-1stman and later the fire chief, was Fire Rigshired as driver for the horse-drawnFromwagon. He was the first and only hand-propelled equipment topaid man on the force which thent het hmatodern fire apparatus of todayhad nine volunteers.s the story of the WilmetteThe first motor equipment wasfire department. The narrative also purchased in 1916, from the should report that the force, with LaFrance Fire Engine company. Still the exception of the driver and hisin service, it is a triple combina-assistant, was entirely volunteer un-ation fire engine weighing 11,200til 1935.pounds and costing $8,500.The fire department began in 1894,wheIn 1916 the present fire station onn the village purchased two hoseGreen Bay road was constructed,carts and organized two volunteerwith occupation in 1917. Also in thisforces, one on theyear, Martin Kalmes, later captain,east side of thewas hired to assist Mr. Zibble astracks and thedriver, becoming the second salar-other on the westied man.side. Fire depart-menThe village purchased the firstt Number 1wahook and ladder for the fire depart-s located atment in 1920. An American LaFrance1035 Lake avenuej model, it was completely destroyedand used theMethodisin an automobile accident in 1942.t churchIn 1934, the first chief car wasbell as an alarm.Numbepurchased. Minus its brilliant redr 2 depart-menfinish, the car is now used by thet was housedstreet department.in J. B. SpencersSet Up Paid Departmentbarn in VattmanThe year 1935, marks the end ofpark. An oldWaltethe volunteer crew, for then eightr Zibbleschool bell on topmen were employed as firemen.of the barn sounded the alarm. TheFrom a force of one paid fireman,two companies had a volunteer forcelater two, and a handful of volun-of about 40 men.teers, the Wilmette fire departmenthas grown until today it has 15Build Station in 1899trained men including the chief, andThe first fire station was built ona houseman.Central avenue in 1899, thus bring-In 1937, the force was presenteding together all the equipment andby a local mortuary with an ambu-disbanding the two former depart-mentslance, which was discarded in 1945..A 750-gallon pumper, SeagravesFIRE HOUSE OF EARLIER DAYS Thats the original WilmetteIn 1905, the department receivedfCorp.) inclosed engine, was pur-fire house pictured above. It was located on the present groundsits first horse-drawn wagon, whichwachased in 1942, to offer greater as-of the post office near the alley and faced on Central avenue. Ats purchased from the ChicagoApparatusistance to the fire fighters. A yearthe extreme left is the bell tower, used to sound alarms. Thes company. Not until 1906,howeverlater a second Seagraves Corpora-tower attached to the building was for drying the 50-foot fire hoses,, did the department own ation model, a hook and ladder, wasand as a look-out. In the second story of the building lived Walterteam of horses, when a pair waspurchasedpurchased.Zibble, the driver, and his family. In front stand the force of from Evanston.AccordingDuring World War II the fire de-1906 loft to right: Roy Henderson, A. C. Wolff, Jacob Smith, to the Village Codes of1904partment was supplemented with anGeorge Neithaver. Chief Joseph Steiner, William Herbon. Martin and 1907, a $5 stipend was paidauxiliary force of 12 men.Kalmes. A. E. Wolff and Walter Zibble. Behind the fire fightersto anyone who loaned a horse topulThe department has maintainedstands the old fire cart which was pulled to fires, sometimesl the hose cart. One old fire-fighteran inhalator squad since 1910.by the force and sometimes by a borrowed horse, before 1906. tells the story of how Billy,