Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
TPL-4117
Date(s)
- 1890 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
ca. 1890. Fire Station #2, Tacoma Fire Department. View of firemen posed in the act of responding to an alarm, taken in the fire station's bedroom. Fire fighters had to be prepared to respond at all hours of the day and night and speed was of the essence. The actual date of this sepia photograph is not known; it may have been roughly in the 1890's. A similar picture is TPL 4118 which portrays the men of Station No. 5 in the same situation. Engine Co. #2 was first established in 1889 at 1735 South "E" (Fawcett). According to the 2nd Annual Tacoma Paid Fire Department Annual Report, fiscal year ending May 31, 1891, the company roster consisted of six men, including Captain P.W. Chapman, age 22, a former salesman. He appears to have been the 4th captain in less than a year at this station. In 1907, a new Station No. 2 was built at 2701 Tacoma Avenue So.; subsequent remodeling was done in 1935. The station is on both the City and National Registry. (2nd Annual Report Tacoma Paid Fire Department, p. 22; 100 Years of Firefighting in the City of Destiny Tacoma, Washington, p. 17, 42)
Tacoma Fire Department (Tacoma); Fire stations--Tacoma--1890-1900; Fire fighters--Tacoma--1890-1900;