Fire Department History

FIRE DEPARTMENT HISTORY

Sugar Grove Fire Protection District was organized July 9, 1942, when Clarence Bolster, Arthur Healy, and Noah P. Cornell were appointed trustees by the Kane County Court. The first meeting was at the Cornell home on the southeast corner of Bliss and Route 47. Noah Cornell was chosen temporary chairman and Art Healy, the temporary secretary. By court order the term length of the trustees was determined by lot. Cornell drew three years, Healy two years, and Bolster one year. Under the laws of the charter, each of the three men were required to post a bond in the amount of $2500, quite a large sum at the time.

The first fire truck was ordered in September of 1945: a 1946 Dodge which cost $5,670. On April 3, 1946, the first regular meeting of the 24 volunteer firemen was held at the Sugar Grove Community House. Will Johnson was elected present, and Charles Merrill the secretary-treasurer. Arden Perschnick served as chief until his death in 1962, at which time Delmar Kreighbaum was appointed to replace him.

The first fire station was built on a lot donated by Teresa Keck, widow of William Keck, at 240 Main Street. At first, all fire calls were answered on the phones in Keck’s Store as well as the chief’s and the assistant chief’s homes. A siren on the roof of the original firehouse alerted the volunteer, along with an alarm in each volunteer’s home. Each fireman had a fellow volunteer to call when an alarm went out. Radios were not installed in the trucks until 1958.

After moving to a new station on north Main Street in 1973, pagers were installed in firemen’s homes, as well as with the Aurora Fire Department. In August of 1978, the emergency “911” number became the Fire Call Number.

In 2006, a new four bay fire station was constructed on Municipal Drive.

FIRST ALL WOMEN VOLUNTEER FIRE FIGHTER SQUAD IN ILLINOIS

There were times when none of the men volunteer fire fighters were available to answer daytime calls. In 1972, women of Sugar Grove answered the calls, becoming the first all women volunteer fire fighter squad in Illinois. These women were:

Phyllis Massier, Norma Anderson, Ruth Kreighbaum, Vicky Keck, Reca Eberly, Edith Will, Darr Lynn Klomhaus, Sharon Wilder, Phyllis Hammon, and Helen Jorgensen.

Source: “Sin-Qua-Sip: A History of Sugar Grove Township, Kane County, Illinois” by Patsy Mighell Paxton