Ramsey County History – Winter 1990: “Fire on The Frontier—Tradesmen, Merchants: The Men Who Ran with the Machine”

Fire on The Frontier—Tradesmen, Merchants: The Men Who Ran with the Machine

Author: Thomas J. Kelley

St. Paul’s first recorded fire occurred in 1838 – somebody torched Pierre Parrant’s lean-to. In 1850 the first Protestant church in the city, brand new, burned to the ground. Several fires later, in 1854, a formal fire company was organized. This article is the story of the creation and early years of what became the Saint Paul Fire Department. For decades all fire companies were volunteer, semi-exclusive clubs that charged dues and held social events. By 1877 the City Council, for so long so laggard in fire protection, decided to create a professional fire department and ordered the volunteer companies disbanded.

PDF of Kelley article