The RHS Facebook page is a rich archive of history-related posts by Carol Flynn, RHS Facebook admin and writer until mid-2025. Carol prolifically wrote a wide variety of meticulously researched local history articles for RHS. She continues to write for the Beverly Review and other media sources with articles particularly focused on local Ridge history.
Morgan Park Fire Department History
Looks like I can share more today. The fire station at 110th and Homewood was mentioned. That is the fire station location for Morgan Park, and my great-grandparents lived right on that block.
I am sharing some early pictures (from the Ridge Historical Society archives) of the Morgan Park fire department, when Morgan Park was its own village and not annexed to Chicago yet. Most of these local fire departments started as volunteers, on a shoe-string budget.
One of my favorite stories for the early MP fire brigade was that when they got a call, they borrowed the horses from the dairy barn down the street to pull the fire wagon. The only problem was that the horses knew the milk delivery route and stopped at every house along the way that usually got milk. It took forever to get to the fire. The Village of MP had to get the fire department its own horses.
The last picture is of the first fire house built there when MP annexed to the city, and the caption I wrote for the RHS newsletter. Many of the small towns around the city annexed so that they could get better services such as fire, police, schools, water, lighting, paving.
– Carol Flynn, RHS Communications #ridgehistoricalsociety