From Phil Stenholm:
Another installment in our series on the History of the Evanston Fire Department.
GOLF, ANYONE?
Even with budget cuts that prevented full modernization as recommended by the NBFU in 1935, the Evanston Fire Department in the 1930s was highly respected. This reputation led the Village of Golf—a small, affluent community located just north of the Glen View Club, adjacent to Golf Road west of Harms Woods, three miles west of Evanston city limits, and five miles from EFD Fire Station #3—to contract with the EFD for fire protection in 1937.
Under the agreement, Evanston would send one engine company (typically Engine Co. 3), one truck company (usually Truck Co. 2), and a chief officer to any fire report from the Village of Golf. Additional EFD units would respond if necessary.
The Village of Golf paid an annual flat fee regardless of how many times the EFD responded or the severity of the fire. This arrangement lasted until the Glenview Rural Fire Department—later known as the Glenbrook Fire Protection District—was established after World War II.
At the time, the two suburban fire departments surrounding the Village of Golf—Morton Grove and Glenview—were mostly volunteer-based, with small pumpers and no ladder trucks. Despite being five miles away and requiring an average response time of 12–15 minutes (depending on traffic and weather), the EFD could provide top-tier equipment and trained personnel upon arrival.
The EFD also had a long-standing contract with the Village of Niles Center (now Skokie) dating back to the 1920s, responding to alarms in College Hill—a remote area in the northeast corner of Niles Center. Residents there had chosen to be part of Evanston’s school district to send their children to ETHS and be integrated into the larger Evanston community.
College Hill was part of a much larger five-square-mile tract that Evanston had planned to annex to accommodate its growing immigrant and African-American population. However, Niles Center unexpectedly annexed the land in the 1920s, leading to tension and threats of legal action from Evanston.
The area remained sparsely populated until after World War II. Many streets were built in the 1920s in anticipation of a housing boom, but development didn’t take off due to the Great Depression and later the war.
By 1927, when EFD Fire Station #4 opened, three of Evanston’s four stations were closer to College Hill than the mostly-volunteer Niles Center Fire Department, which had its station at 8031 Floral Avenue. In fact, the NBFU had suggested in its 1935 report that a fifth station be built near Grant and Central Park to better serve College Hill.
Thanks to its aggressive annexation policy in the 1920s, Evanston’s boundaries extended far beyond its core, but in the 1930s, Niles Center’s population and commercial activity were still centered around the Oakton and Lincoln intersection. The Niles Township High School (later Niles East) was built in 1938 at 7700 Lincoln Avenue, close to where most students lived.
There were a few scattered homes and businesses in College Hill, along Dempster Street, Church Street, and East Prairie Road. The EFD continued responding to alarms there until January 1949, when Skokie opened its east-side fire station at 8340 Hamlin Avenue, taking over fire protection for the area.
The only other suburban fire department under contract to respond outside its own boundaries in the 1930s was the Winnetka Fire Department, which covered Kenilworth, Northfield, and unincorporated areas of New Trier Township, including the exclusive Woodley Road neighborhood and “no-man’s land†along Sheridan Road.
FRONT-LINE APPARATUS OF OTHER NEARBY SUBURBAN FIRE DEPARTMENTS – CIRCA 1937
WILMETTE:
- 1915 American LaFrance Type 75 750-GPM TCP
- 1923 American LaFrance Type 67 city-service truck
WINNETKA:
- 1919 American LaFrance Type 75 750-GPM TCP
- 1926 American LaFrance Type 14 quad
NILES CENTER (SKOKIE):
- 1926 Ahrens-Fox 1000-GPM TCP
- 1937 Pirsch Junior 750-GPM / 60-foot aerial quad
GLENCOE:
- 1924 American LaFrance Type 75 750-GPM TCP
NILES:
- 1936 Pirsch 750-GPM TCP
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