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- Description:
- Large sepia-toned photograph of Detroit Fire Department Chief James C. Broderick and driver George Appel, seated in an Oldsmobile Autocrat, which is parked on a brick street, beside a brick wall. "DFD" is painted on the car's door. The photo is mounted on cardstock. A typewritten caption affixed to the verso reads: Chief James Broderick, pictured here in the driver's seat of an early motorized chief's car, served in Detroit's Fire Department for fifty continuous years. He was one of the few men who witnessed the passing from the hand engines to steam engines and from the steam engines to gasoline motor-driven apparatus. He saw the department grow from a small group of volunteers to a department of over 1,700 men. His first big fire after taking charge of the Fire Department was the spectacular Michigan Stove Works fire, which occurred on January 8, 1907, one week after he became Chief. The biggest fire in Chief Broderick's time was the D.M. Ferry Seed Company fire on New Year's Day, 1886, with a loss of a million dollars, a huge sum in those days.
- Date Issued:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Detroit Historical Society
- Collection:
- Fire Department