Side 1The Iola Village Board at its September and October, 1892, meetings appointed and adopted a fire protection resolution committee report. At its subsequent Nov. 4 meeting it paid a $22.62 bill for the purchase of ladders; at its Feb. 4, 1893, meeting it paid another bill of $6.75 for the purchase of two dozen buckets. Thus, the Iola Fire Department was born as an informal ladder and bucket brigade.
In 1894 and 1895: a "Watch House" was authorized and constructed for $238; the village's electors authorized the installation of a fire protection system; an offer and settlement was made to acquire a chemical engine from the Chemical Fire Extinguisher Company; provisions for establishing a temporary Fire Company were adopted on Nov. 18, 1894; arrangements were made for the chemical engine to be stored and cared for by the Frogner Brothers; a village Building Ordinance was adopted on Feb. 19, 1895.
The Iola Volunteer Fire Company was organized on October 6, 1896. With the turn into the new century the village exchanged its chemical engine and $900 for a W. S. Nott Steam Engine, and related equipment,
Side 2
Powerful enough to "throw a stream over the flag pole of the I.O.O.F. Hall." In 1900, the Fire Company took steps to establish a network of water storage
cisterns around the village.
In the fall and early winter of 1900, a 30' x 40' Engine House was built for $1,432.34. The enabling resolution provided that the structure be situated on State Street, be heated "so the steam in the engine can be raised very quickly in case of fire, (and have) a well with an intake from the pond." The Fire Company met in its new home for the first time on January 10, 1901; the first fire call recorded in its record book was at Sanborn Taylor's barn on April 2.
That historic two-stall Engine House (Firehouse) still stands at 175 East State Street. This three-stall replication of the original was dedicated at an open house held on Memorial Day, May 28, 2007. A trio of historic Iola firefighting apparatus are quartered there-in: a 1913 Waterous Pumper; a 1924 Model "T" ford hose truck that was outfitted locally; a 1938 Reo-Speed-Wagon hose truck and pumper combination vehicle crafted locally by local machinist Rhinard I. Anderson in 1942.
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