The citizens of Crawfordsville have been fighting fire for almost 200 years—both professionally and with volunteers. After Lew Wallace completed his service on the military tribunals that handled the Lincoln conspirators and Commander Wirz in 1865, he headed south to Mexico. He had been in Mexico just prior to the conclusion of the Civil War helping to assure that leaders of the Confederacy would not entice Mexico to enter the war in support of the South. Wallace loved Mexico and when circumstances offered him a chance to return, he did so. He helped support the military operations that eventually led to the fall of Emperor Maximillian’s dictatorship. Wallace also hoped to realize some profit from mining and other enterprises in Mexico. When these efforts failed to meet his expectations, Wallace returned home.
When he returned to Crawfordsville in 1867, he resumed his law practice for business and reorganized the Montgomery Guards for fun. He also began helping the volunteer fire department. For a time in the late 1860s and 1870s, this volunteer group of young men was known as the Niagara Fire Company—no doubt in recognition of the amount of water they could pour on a fire and because the first fire engine was purchased from Terre Haute, Indiana with the name “Niagara” already painted on the engine. Like the Montgomery Guards, the Niagara Fire Company volunteers enjoyed parading around Crawfordsville on public occasions and according to the newspaper reports of the day, they were especially pleased when Lew Wallace appeared on the scene of a fire to become a volunteer to the volunteers. How much he actually fought fire and how much he directed things is open to conjecture.
On the morning of December 23, 1868, a fire was reported in downtown Crawfordsville, which was thought to have started in Patterson’s Book Store and Jewelry Store. The fire spread to Krout’s Drug Store, the Journal Building and Fry’s Drug Store. Within two hours of the flames being reported, an entire block near the courthouse was leveled.
After this disaster the Crawfordsville Journal called attention to the need for fire protection, and in January of 1869 a meeting was held to discuss the organization of a fire department.
Subscriptions were solicited from property owners, and the volunteer/subscription-based Niagara Fire Company was formed in that same year. The department was completely staffed by volunteers. At first, the company was housed in various barns until a second engine was purchased in 1872 and the new City Building and Fire Station was built at 117 N. Green Street in 1873.
The firefighting operations were later incorporated into city government, becoming a tax-supported department in 1888 with both paid and volunteer “minute men” who were phased out in 1897 after the city installed fire hydrants. In the years since Lew Wallace volunteered, the department has operated out of various locations, including a central station built in 1933 that still houses the department today. The local fire department has added a second station house and has been a national leader in the integration of EMS services in recent years.
