The trolley car rigged for firefighting used on Park Point beginning in 1907. (Image: Duluth Transit Authority.)
On this day in Duluth in 1907, volunteers of the Park Point Fire Department made their first test run. Led by “Chief” George E. Ball, firefighters boarded a streetcar—newly equipped for firefighting—at 9 a.m. and rode along Minnesota Point from the Interstate Traction Company car barns at 1900 Minnesota Avenue roughly two miles to the White City amusement park, which was closed for the season. It took just eight minutes for them to travel, lay out 800 feet of hose, and start a steady stream of water flowing through it. The Duluth Herald commented that the addition of the volunteer fire department gave the residents of Park Point “a feeling of much greater safety.” From 1870 to 1905, Park Point was cut off from the rest of Duluth. Fire equipment had to be brought over on a ferry. Ball was the master mechanic of the Interstate Traction Company, which built the street railway system on Park Point. Once the Aerial Transfer Bridge was built, the firehouse in “Uptown” (today’s Canal Park Business District) was able to send reinforcements to help with fires on Park Point, but they first had to be contacted, which created delays. Park Point had no fire alarm system at the time, but the story indicated one was in the works. A year later, as this letter (PPFire_10.18.08_DNT) to the Duluth News Tribune suggests, there was still no alarm in place.
