First Organized Fire Company - 1736

Firefighter in Uniform, 1860

Library of Congress

According to John Bigelow's 1869 edition of the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, the Union Fire Company was established on December 7, 1736. Initially, its primary purpose was to protect the property of its members; however, the company extended its services beyond its membership when others were in need. The Union Fire Company remained active until at least 1791. At that time, it comprised thirty members and was equipped with one engine, 250 buckets, thirteen ladders, two hooks, no bags, and an eighty-foot rope.

Phoenix Fire Historic Station 8 - Thank you!

Phoenix Fire Historic Station 8 Archives

Recently, I had the pleasure of exploring Phoenix Fire Historic Station 8 alongside another historian from the PMMP, Kim. This beautifully preserved fire station, opened in 1942, is located at 541 W. Encanto in Phoenix. One of the reasons this station so unique is its design.  It was carefully constructed to blend seamlessly with the surrounding homes in the Encanto neighborhood. This architectural choice reflects the station's integral role in the community, not only as a place of service but as a cherished part of the neighborhood’s history.

Today, Station 8 serves a new purpose: preserving and sharing the legacy of the Phoenix Fire Department. This transformation into a museum ensures that the tools, memorabilia, and memories of those who served continue to inspire future generations. Walking through the station, one can almost feel the heartbeat of a bygone era, where courage and camaraderie defined each shift and every call.

Several fire fighters who once served in the Phoenix Fire Department have been laid to rest at the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park (PMMP), We had the opportunity to see a few of them in their uniforms on the walls of the Fire House!

A huge shout-out to Tim Kovacs, who graciously guided us through this journey back in time. Tim’s passion for preserving and sharing this history was evident as he walked us through the collection, each piece carrying its own story. From vintage equipment to heartfelt tributes, Tim’s detailed narratives helped breathe life into every artifact, offering a deep appreciation for the work and sacrifices of these firefighters.

Visiting Phoenix Fire Historic Station 8 was not just an educational experience but a meaningful reflection on the community’s spirit and resilience. It’s a testament to the enduring legacy of those who protected Phoenix, 

If you ever find yourself in Phoenix, I highly recommend stopping by the museum.  Not only will you learn about the evolution of firefighting in our city, but you’ll also feel the deep connections between this station, its community, and the people who called it home.

-By Val

Here are some more pictures Tim sent from the archives 

of the Phoenix Fire Department! 

 

Lindley Hogue Orme (1848 - 1900) - Maricopa County Sheriff

 

The Orme family of Arizona has a long and distinguished history, making many of their descendants eligible for membership in the DAR and other patriotic societies.

Lindley Hogue Orme was born December 18/19, 1848, in Montgomery, Maryland.  He was the fourth of eight children of Charles Henry Crabbe Orme and Deborah Brooke Pleasants.

When Lindley’s older brother, Charles Henry Crabbe Orme, enlisted in the 35th Virginia Cavalry (CSA) on March 1, 1863, Lindley accompanied him, although he was only about fourteen at the time.  Military records say that the brothers served in White’s Battalion, known as “the Comanches”.   Lindley was a private in Company B, while Charles was in Company D.

When Richmond, Virginia, fell to the Union Army on April 2, 1865, Lindley was taken prisoner.  A few weeks later, he signed his oath of allegiance and was released.

According to his obituary, Lindley and his brothers drove a flock of sheep to California at some point thereafter.  Lindley then settled in Phoenix where he acquired three sections of land in central Phoenix and raised over 600 acres of grain.  He is credited with bringing the first threshing machine to the Salt River Valley. 

Orme wed Mary Florence Greenhaw on March 15, 1876.  Unfortunately, Mary Florence was suffering from tuberculosis, so she and Lindley had no children.  She died on March 16, 1883.  Lindley eventually married Mary A. Jeffries, with whom he had one son, Alfred.

Orme served as sheriff from 1880 to 1884. During this time he was also appointed a deputy U. S. marshal, not bad for a former Confederate.  Henry Garfias was one of his deputies.  In April of 1883, a smallpox epidemic broke out in Maricopa County.  As sheriff, Orme was directed to quarantine the afflicted families to prevent the spread of the disease. 

Water being essential to the future of Phoenix, Orme helped form the Agua Fria Water and Land Company in 1888.

In 1891 and 1893, Orme was again elected sheriff. The county was growing at such a rate that a new courthouse and jail equipped with electric lights were needed.  During Sheriff Orme's last term, he became something of a media celebrity when he foiled a plot by Dr. J. M. Rose to murder three members of a Williams family in Mesa.

Lindley Orme died 24 September 1900, at the age of 52, having been in poor health for some months prior.  He was buried next to his first wife in the IOOF Cemetery. 

-By Patty Gault, Val Wilson, Donna Carr

Photos PCA Archives

 

Come Visit Us at the PMMP - October 24, 2024

 

Frank B. Moss (1852-1906) - Mayor and Fire Chief

Phoenix Fire Department

Frank Benjamin Moss was born on September 15, 1852, in Slades Corners, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, to Francis Maas and Christina Schmidt.  He grew up in Wheatland, Wisconsin, where he began at the age of 16 to learn the blacksmithing trade from his father.

As a young man, he moved to the boom town of Virginia City, Nevada, where he worked at his trade and also ran a lumberyard.  He moved to Tombstone in 1878, where he initially worked as a teamster.  Wagon trains crossing southern Arizona traveled mostly at night to avoid the day’s heat and attacks by Apache Indians.  Reportedly, Moss came under fire on two occasions but escaped unharmed. 

About 1880, Moss relocated to Phoenix where he set up a blacksmith and wagon-making shop at the northeast corner of First Avenue and Adams Street.  On May 31, 1885, he married Ida May Harriman in Mesa.  They had three sons: Earl, Ralph and Ernest.

Business was good and Moss prospered.  He invested in real estate, ranched and raised cattle, did some mining and owned and trained race horses.  He also joined the volunteer Phoenix Fire Department, where his skills as a blacksmith and wagon-maker were appreciated.  By 1890, he was an assistant chief and by 1892 he was the chief. After being injured on the job, he had to give up his position as fire chief.  Moss then turned his attention to city politics and, in 1894, won a seat on the Phoenix City Council.

The political climate in the growing city was sometimes volatile.  Fed up with the wrangling, Dr. Roland Rosson resigned as mayor on April 6, 1896.  Moss was appointed acting mayor, a position he held until a special election was held on June 2, 1896.   Moss returned to work in his new blacksmith shop on the corner of Washington Street and Fourth Avenue.

On December 4, 1898, for unknown reasons, Moss moved out of his home and separated from his wife.   Citing abandonment as the cause, Ida filed for divorce on June 14, 1899.  Scarcely a month after the divorce became final, she married Orrin W. Lawrence, a Phoenix policeman. 

On July 10, 1905, Moss again became acting mayor. This time, he held the seat for almost a year.  During his stint, he signed into law several progressive city ordinances.

On the evening of March 19, 1906, Mayor Moss rode his bicycle to City Hall.  While climbing the steps, he complained of chest pain and medical help was summoned.  Moss died between 9 and 10 PM, likely of a heart attack.  He was 53 years old.

 Throngs of citizens viewed Moss’s body as it lay in state at City Hall.   After the funeral, he was interred in the Odd Fellows Cemetery. 

 -by Mark Lamm and Derek Horn

 

Thank You Arizona Historical Society - Preservation Grant!

 

Pioneers' Cemetery Association Won the Al Mérito Award! - 2024

 

Pioneers' Cemetery Association won the Al Mérito Award from the Arizona Historical Society on Friday! We are so honored! Thank you AHS and to all of our volunteers who have helped us become what we are today!

Strange but True: Chicago's Ghost Information Company - 1884

 

Bing AI/Val Prompt

In the early 1900s, an enterprising individual in Chicago started a peculiar business venture...a "ghost information" company! Claiming to have access to over 300 working ghosts through a medium, the company sold "ghostly information" as its main product. Amazingly, this unique concept attracted enough interest that people eagerly bought shares in it!

Curious about how this supernatural business unfolded? Read the full article for all the ghostly details! Click to make it larger 👇

Weekly Republican, May, 1884

 

Benjamin Joseph Franklin (1834-1898) - Arizona's 12th Territorial Governor

 

PCA Archives

Benjamin Joseph Franklin was born in Kentucky.  By 1860, he was practicing law in Leavenworth, Kansas.  At the outbreak of the Civil War, Franklin, a Southern sympathizer, moved to Missouri so that he could enlist in the Confederate Army.  He served for the duration of the war, rising to the rank of captain. 

Since Franklin had been an officer, he was forbidden to practice law or hold public office after the war until he had taken an oath of allegiance. From 1865 to 1868, he farmed in Columbia, Missouri.  After taking the oath of allegiance in 1868, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and opened a law office.

Franklin was married to Anne Barbour Johnston, stepdaughter of Alfred William Morrison, previously the treasurer of the state of Missouri.  From 1871 to 1875, Franklin was the prosecuting attorney for Jackson County.  In 1875, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives and served two terms before returning to his private law practice.

In 1885, Franklin travelled to Washington, D. C., where he successfully lobbied President Grover Cleveland for an appointment as U. S. Consul to China.  His family accompanied him to Hankow, where they lived for the next five years

In 1890, the Franklins returned to California.  By 1892, they were in Phoenix.  Aware of efforts to have territorial governor Hughes removed from office, Franklin decided to seek the office himself.  He persuaded several prominent local men to send letters on his behalf to President Cleveland.  Cleveland responded by appointing him the twelfth territorial governor of Arizona on 18 April 1896.  Franklin’s son Alfred served as his personal secretary.

During his term in office, Franklin pushed for statehood and tax reform, feeling that many businesses and individuals were not paying their fair share of taxes.  Although as a fiscal conservative he was averse to soliciting funds from Congress, he knew that only the federal government could build the dams that Arizona so desperately needed.  In January 1897, Franklin had suffered a heart attack but recovered through “sheer force of will”.

After Republican William McKinley was elected President, he replaced Franklin with a man of his own party, Myron Hawley McCord.  On 22 July 1897, Franklin left office and returned to his private law practice in the Fleming building, with Alfred as his partner.  Franklin is generally regarded as having been personally honest and competent although not particularly effective as a governor, given his short tenure.

After he left office, Franklin’s health declined further.  When he did not wake from a nap on 19 May 1898, it was determined that he had died of a recurrence of his heart trouble.  He was buried in Rosedale Cemetery following an Episcopalian funeral service.

-by Donna Carr

 

Save the Date for our Annual Holiday Party! - November 6th

Save the Date!

 

The Mysterious Man of Lillian Gross - Good Samaritan?

Bing AI/Val Prompt

Lillian M. Hisey Gross of Congress, Arizona, passed away on Friday, July 9, 1897, at the Ford Hotel in Phoenix. She arrived at the hotel accompanied by an unidentified man on the Prescott train, and they registered under the names "E. M. Scott and wife" from Chicago. They were given separate rooms, and the man disappeared the following morning.

Lillian had been suffering from uremia, a kidney disease exacerbated by excessive drinking. Upon arrival at the hotel, her health rapidly deteriorated, and despite medical attention, she passed away. Before her death, a nurse discovered that Lillian lived in Congress, and that her husband, George Gross, was a miner employed in Wickenburg by Richard Baxter.

Lillian mentioned that the mystery man was a gambler but refrained from providing further details, only stating that "he is all right." When doctors suggested that she notify her husband, Lillian resisted, not wanting to worry him. 

Nonetheless, the doctors sent a telegram to Mr. Gross, who had been working at Vulture. Upon learning of his wife’s critical condition in Phoenix, he immediately traveled there. However, instead of heading straight to the hotel, he sat at the courthouse plaza, although it's not really known why. When he finally arrived at the hotel, he encountered men carrying his wife’s body.

George Gross was perplexed by his wife’s behavior.  She had been struggling with kidney disease for some time and was only 29 years old. The couple had married in Prescott four years earlier and had lived happily in Congress until George lost his job. Three weeks before her death, he had started working at Vulture, with plans for Lillian to join him later.

The unknown man was described as slightly over six feet tall, with dark hair and eyes, and a tendency to carry his head forward. He was of an age below middle-aged. George Gross did not recognize the description, although he had a specific individual in mind, but the description did not match. Mr. Gross did not believe that the individual had any ill intentions.  

It was speculated that the man had met Lillian on the train and, upon realizing she was unwell, took care of her. Registering at the hotel as his wife might have been the most convenient way to avoid unnecessary questions or complications. George Gross sent inquiries to Congress to learn more about her traveling companion, suspecting someone from there might have accompanied her.

The mystery even reached California, with San Francisco authorities searching for the unidentified man. However, it remains unclear why the mystery man was suspected as having come from there.  

The identification of the man, based on this researcher's initial search, was not discovered.  There was an E. M. Scott working in San Francisco and Los Angeles at about this time.  He was a real estate broker, and traveled to other states.  However, it's not known if this was the E.M. Scott that Mrs. Gross registered with at the Ford Hotel. 

-summary By Val (Resources: the San Francisco Call and Post, July 13, 1897 and the Phoenix Weekly, July 15, 1897) 

John Tabor Alsap (1830 - 1886) - First Mayor of Phoenix

 

Arizona Archives

John Tabor Alsap was born 28 February 1830 in Frankfort, Kentucky. He was the only son of Rev. John Alsap (sometimes spelled Alsop) and his wife Keziah Randall.  After studying medicine in Ohio, young John went to California in 1853, intending to practice medicine there. Once in California, however, he developed an interest in mining--an interest which brought him to the Walker diggings in Yavapai county, in November 1863.

Alsap’s medical skills came in handy in 1864 when he accompanied King Woolsey's second punitive expedition against the Apaches as the party's surgeon.  His reputation thus established, he was appointed territorial treasurer in late 1864 by Gov. John Noble Goodwin.

He soon opened the first saloon in Prescott, a shrewd business move which brought him into contact with much of Prescott’s electorate.  On 6 June 1866, Alsap married Louise A. Osborn, daughter of pioneer John Preston Osborn.  Tragically, she died barely a year later.

Alsap became Yavapai County's representative to the territorial legislature in 1868.  However, his larger political ambitions were not to be fulfilled in Prescott. In 1869, he moved south to the Salt River Valley, where he helped to select the 320 acres comprising the original Phoenix townsite.  He was one of the original commissioners of the Salt River Town Association, formed in 1870 to promote settlement along the Salt River.

Alsap now turned his attention from the practice of medicine and mining to the practice of law.  As the fledgling community along the Salt River gained a foothold, he petitioned to have a new county created, with Phoenix as its seat.  Following the creation of Maricopa County in 1871, Governor Safford appointed Alsap its first probate judge. As judge, he sometimes officiated at civil weddings when no minister was available. He also served as superintendent of public education. 

Between 1873 and 1879, Alsap held a seat in the territorial legislature.  On 7 September 1876, he wed Anna Dugan Murray, one of the eight daughters of William P. Murray and his wife Margaret.  All the Murray girls married well-connected men and founded some of Phoenix’s ‘first families’.  Alsap's contributions to the city of Phoenix were recognized when he was elected its first mayor in 1881.

Alsap was an ardent Mason throughout his life.  A photograph taken in Contra Costa, California, shows him dressed in his Masonic regalia.  He was the first master of the Azlan Masonic Lodge in Prescott and also of the Arizona Masonic Lodge in Phoenix, and he chartered the Royal Arch Masonic Lodge. Upon his death in 1886, he was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Phoenix.  A modern granite headstone marks his grave.

-By Donna Carr

Fall Fashion Notes - 1897

Phoenix Weekly Herald, September 30, 1897