Early Firefighting in Sioux Falls

A frontier town such as Sioux Falls, Dakota Territory, built almost entirely of wood and surrounded by highly flammable prairie grass could be swiftly consumed by uncontrolled fire. Without protection, farms and towns were vulnerable to prairie fires which might ignite very quickly and then burn fiercely for miles, subject to the whim and velocity of the wind.

Many territorial newspaper editors were prompted to plead for an organized defense against this merciless element of nature. In the 1870’s Sioux Falls was threatened with several fires, causing considerable community uneasiness. A volunteer bucket brigade, equipped with leather buckets, was formed in 1877 to ease this anxiety.

A raging fire, starting north of Sioux Falls in 1879, took the life of Mrs. John Fortune, a farm woman caught in its path. The fire then swept down ‘Brewery Hill’ (North Main Ave.) threatening downtown Sioux Falls. Only the valiant effort of townspeople kept damage at a minimum. In 1880, a group of volunteer firefighters organized the Cascade Hook and Ladder Company.

Four years later a 2,600 lb. fire bell was purchased by the City Council and mounted in a fire tower (NE corner of 9th St. and Dakota Ave.), but within the year, a lightning bolt split the fire tower from top to bottom. By 1889, the volunteer fire department included a hook and ladder company, a two horse combination hose wagon, several hose companies and a chemical company.

The volunteer firemen were the pride of the city and received praise and honors for their skills and efficiency. Even so, the volunteers were not able to quell the disastrous fire which destroyed the landmark Cataract Hotel, the social center of the city, on June 30, 1900 (NW corner of 9th St. and Phillips Ave.).

The citizens of Sioux Falls were shocked into the realization that their growing city needed highly trained, full-time paid firefighters. In response, a month later the City Council created an eight man salaried fire department, augmented by 15 ‘minute men’ unpaid volunteers. This firefighting facility, the Central Fire Station, when built in 1912, was ‘the only building in South Dakota to be used exclusively for fire purposes’.

The old 1885 fire alarm bell was installed in an 80 ft. bell tower. The tower was also used for the hanging and drying of fire hoses. The station had 11 horse stalls in the back with a hay loft on the second floor. When the fire bell sounded, the horses were trained to quickly trot to their places in front of the fire wagons where suspended harnesses were dropped on their backs and snapped into place.

The horses were retired and replaced by motorized fire trucks in 1917. An era had ended. Erected in 1994 by the Minnehaha County and South Dakota State Historical Societies and Sioux Falls Area and Mary Chilton DAR Foundations and Sioux Falls Firefighters Assn., Local 814.