Saugatuck Fire Hall and fire fighters

Date: 1871-1904

One of the greatest perils facing local residents during the early days was fire. Many fires started at the riverside, very often from hot sparks from an overheated or exploding steam engine, or as the result of sparks falling on a roof, then spreading to other buildings. Saugatuck’s fire department was organized in 1871 and reorganized in 1891. It occupied this new fire hall, complete with bell-tower, in 1880. The village fire fighting system was primitive and often ineffective—and at times the citizens, mustered into service, refused to work the hand pumps. In Douglas the firehouse caught fire and destroyed the fire engine, and in 1886 nearly half the commercial buildings of Saugatuck were destroyed by fire. In 1892 the Saugatuck harbor pier caught fire and much of the Fishtown settlement burned down. On the other hand, heroic fire-fighting action by local people in 1871 held the line against the fires along the Allegan hill and east to Goshorn Lake—the same Midwest fire disaster that destroyed most of nearby Holland (and much of Chicago). It was not until 1904, when Saugatuck built and installed a new water delivery system at the Pump House, that the fire fighters could rely on an ample supply of hydrant water.