Hale: The Firepole

Hale: The Firepole (HMSZN)

Location: Kansas City, MO 64153 Platte County
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Country: United States of America
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N 39° 18.883', W 94° 42.241'

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Inscription
Imagine this scene in 1850? a dry, hot summer day in the newly incorporated town of Kansas City. The street is crowded with wooden structures. Suddenly, swirls of black smoke stream from a saloon roof. The church bells begin to ring, calling for every citizen to join the bucket brigade - their only source of water, from the standing pools in nearby ravines. It was a wild, disorganized affair, and often more buildings were destroyed than saved.

But all that began to change in 1867, with the purchase of Kansas City's first fire engine and the formation of the first volunteer fire company. Unfortunately, the city soon found that keeping volunteers wasn't easy, and by the end of 1871, the city put its firemen on the payroll.

Then in 1882, the city hired George C. Hale as its first professional fire chief. He ran a crack team, even entering them in international competitions. Kansas City's fire department gained worldwide recognition, but it was Hale's innovative contributions to fire fighting that remain his most important legacy.

Among his inventions was the Hale Swinging Harness, which would allow horses to be harnessed to the fire wagon within a few seconds. Hale also invented the water tower, which was capable of shooting 5 ½ tons of water per minute; as well as the automatic fire alarm, which would alert a city's central fire station to the location of a fire.

But perhaps his most creative invention of all was the deceptively simple firepole - today it remains the fastest mode of travel between upstairs sleeping quarters and the door to the hook and ladder truck.
Details
HM NumberHMSZN
Tags
Marker NumberB5
Placed ByKansas City International Airport
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, October 11th, 2014 at 3:37pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)15S E 353097 N 4353086
Decimal Degrees39.31471667, -94.70401667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 18.883', W 94° 42.241'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 18' 52.98" N, 94° 42' 14.46" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)816
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 10200 NW 121st St, Kansas City MO 64153, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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