File:Firemen posing outside Seattle Fire Department, November 1889 (MOHAI 9535).jpg

The creation of the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) can be traced back to July 6th, 1876, when the all-volunteer Seattle Engine Company No.1 was organized. In 1883, the City Charter was amended to create and fund equipment, but not staff, for a centralized municipal fire department. The volunteer-based system persisted until pressure from the insurance industry and citizens after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 forced the city council to reform Seattle's seven volunteer companies into a paid, professional unit of 32 men organized into five district fire stations. In this image members of Seattle's Fire Department pose at Third Avenue and University Street, in front of one of the five new firehouses built after the previous firehouses were destroyed in the Great Fire. The man second from the right is Gardner Kellogg (1839-1918), a volunteer firefighter since 1870, and the Department's first chief, from 1884-1901. Assistant Chief Carl Bassler stands first from the right.

Identifications, left to right: 1. Charles E Murray, driver, sitting on Gould Engine No. 2; 2. W. H. Clark, captain, No. 2; 3. J. E. Clark, lieutenant, No. 2; 4. George Parry, stoker, No. 2; 5. Arthur Soper, pipeman, No. 2; 6. Oscar Drew, engineer, No. 2; 7. G. R. Sterns, pipeman [or H. A. Smith]; 8. Charles Stanton, hook & ladder; 9. Otto Weide, engine No. 1, hook & ladder; 10. Hiram Caswell, driver No. 1, sitting on Babcock Hook & Ladder truck in center bay; 11. William Zahn [or Zann]; 12. Frank Bogan, captain; 13. Tom Gallaher; 14. James Wallace, lieutenant; 15. Tom J. Kelly, lieutenant; 16. Frank Elwin, stoker; 17. Fred A. Zahn, pipeman; 18. James Dunham, engineer; 19. A. B. "Jack" Hubbard, hose, sitting on Gould Engine No. 1; 20. A. B. Hunt, captain; 21. Chief Gardner Kellogg; 22. Asst. Chief Carl Bassler. Caption information source: "Seattle Fire Department is created on October 17, 1889," by Alan J. Stein, HistoryLink.org Essay 3938 Caption information source: https://pauldorpat.com/2014/01/19/seattle-now-then-the-first-fire-department-hq

• Subjects (LCTGM): Fire engines--Washington (State)--Seattle; Fire fighters--Washington (State)--Seattle; Fire stations--Washington (State)--Seattle