December 2, 2013

On November 23, 1893, the Galesburg Fire Department received an alarm that there was a fire at the home of the Reverence C.R. Hodge at 632 South West Street. The men at the Prairie Street station harnessed the horses to the chemical wagon and hose cart. The machines quickly ran west on Tompkins Street. At the corner of Tompkins and West, the driver slowed the team to a trot to negotiate the left turn. But the street was covered with ice and snow. As the turn was made, the chemical wagon hit a rut and went over on its side. The seat and one of the ladders were broken and the men were thrown some distance. None were seriously injured. George Norene, the driver, managed to hold the team to a stop.

 Dick Howard witnessed the accident and ran to the nearby Frost Manufacturing Company to get help. A good number of the workers came to the scene to turn the fire engine upright. Fortunately, the fire at the Hodge home was small and the delay didn’t add to the damage.

 The next day, a reporter from The Mail stopped by the firehouse. He wrote that the members of the Galesburg Fire Department were great story tellers. They would compel a visitor to listen to their stories until they were completed.

 George Norene, the driver of the chemical wagon, loved his team next to his wife and son. His horses recognized his footstep and expected him to pay attention to them. “Old Jim” was an old white horse who had been in the department for many years. He was something of a boss over the rest of the equine residents of the station.

 A few months before “Jim” had decided he needed a drink of water before lights out. Norene gave him the drink. After a few nights, Norene decided this routine was getting tiresome and stopped watering “Jim.” The horse began to whinny and kick the sides of his stall until he was given a drink.

 Don Downing drove the hose cart team. He claimed his horses were more intelligent than “Old Jim.” One horse would run to the cart and grab hold of the harness with his teeth to help the firefighters hitch the wagon.

 Tall tales or not, we don’t know, but the Galesburg Fire Department men were jolly and brave at the same time and always ready to answer an alarm

 Just a few years later Carl Sandburg would join the crew at the Brooks Street Station as a call man. He slept at the station, performed his duties, bicycled to fires when necessary and attended Lombard College to get an education.

Date	Title
December 2, 2013	The Fire Boys Talk
November 25, 2013	Galesburg Will Feast on Turkeys and Cranberries - Thanksgiving 1893
November 18, 2013	Mary Sandburg Johnson
November 11, 2013	Carl Sandburg's Bicycle
November 4, 2013	Lace Curtains
October 28, 2013	The Front Room
October 21, 2013	A Warm Breakfast
October 14, 2013	Marion D. Shutter
October 7, 2013	Cigars and Consumption
September 30, 2013	Forrest F. Cooke & August Sandburg
September 16, 2013	Forrest F. Cooke, Mayor
September 9, 2013	Dusty Streets
September 2, 2013	Typhoid Fever
August 26, 2013	Coffee and Water
August 19, 2013	A Horse! A Horse!
August 12, 2013	Gaddial Scott
August 5, 2013	The Racetrack
July 29, 2013	John Peter Algeld - Part II
July 22, 2013	John Peter Altgeld - Part I
July 15, 2013	Tramps, Tramps, Tramps
July 8, 2013	Lady Liberty
July 1, 2013	Galesburg's Fourth
June 24, 2013	John H. Finley
June 17, 2013	The World's Columbian Exhibition
June 10, 2013	Fruit Short-Cake
June 3, 2013	Horatio Alger, Author
May 27, 2013	Memorial Day, 1887
May 20, 2013	Professor Jon W. Grubb
May 13, 2013	Beginnings of Lombard University
May 6, 2013	Young Sandburg’s View of Lombard College
April 29, 2013	Thinking
April 22, 2013	Robert Colville, Master Mechanic
April 15, 2013	The Galesburg Opera House
April 8, 2013	Grocery Stores and Sample Rooms
April 1, 2013	A Hearty  Breakfast
March 25, 2013	The Lost Wallpaper Legend
March 18, 2013	Martin G. Sandburg
March 4, 2013	The Edison Talking Machine
February 25, 2013	Joe Elser, Civil War Veteran
February 18, 2013	Remember the Maine...
February 11, 2013	Lincoln's Birthday
February 4, 2013	Curiosity