Edwardsville Fire Department

Edwardsville Fire Department providing fire suppression, EMS, rescue and public education to the City of Edwardsville, Illinois. Responding to the needs of a growing community, civic leaders founded Edwardsville Fire Company #1 in 1874. The early fire department quickly proved its worth, and the organization flourished both as a service and a social institution. Gala New Years Eve balls and summer parades and picnics were social events eagerly awaited by townsfolk. All the early fire fighting equipment was pulled to fires by the firefighters and then powered by their muscles. Some of the actual vehicles used by these hearty volunteers are still on display at Fire Station #1. Horse drawn apparatus displaced human powered equipment when the fire department purchased their first team and pumper at the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair. Horses were used for the next two decades until the first motor-driven trucks were added in the I920s. As time passed and the needs of the growing ci...