By Mary E. Mortimer
Horace S. Blair served as fire chief of the Bellefontaine Fire Department for 33 years.He was born in Mt. Victory, Ohio on February 19, 1863, to Dr. J. S. and Elizabeth Ewing Blair. His family moved to Bellefontaine during his childhood years.
In 1888, Blair married Jessie Hipple and they made their home at 633 E. Columbus Ave. in Bellefontaine. They had two children, Horace Kenneth and Helen.
In the spring of 1895, Blair was out of a job but was able to obtain work painting a house. On the afternoon of May 4th, while Blair was painting, Fire Chief C. F. “Cash” Martin stopped by and offered him a job at the fire department. Chief Martin said, “I need you right away”. Blair accepted the offer and found someone to finish painting the house so he could start his new job.
At that time, the fire department was located at 108 N. Madriver St. in a frame, barn-like building. It had a hay mow above where the horse-drawn pumper and two horses were kept. The firemen slept on cots near the equipment and the horse harnesses were hung from the ceiling on hooks. When the fire bell rang, a rope was used to open the stall doors, and the horses came out under the harnesses for fast and easy hookups.
Tragedy struck in July 1898 when the fire house was destroyed by fire. The fire was discovered by Will Boon, a former member of the DeGraff Fire Department, who was returning to his Bellefontaine home from his barber shop in DeGraff just after midnight. He gave the alarm, and the fireman soon extinguished the flames and went back to bed. Around 4 a.m., Sandy, the faithful, old horse, roused the firemen from their slumbers. This time the flames had gained such headway there was barely enough time to save themselves, the wagons, pumper and horses. After the disastrous fire, their equipment and horses were housed in a barn owned by Dr. William W. Hamer. The barn was located behind the Hamer Hospital, near the present site of the Holland Theatre on E. Columbus Ave.
A new fire house was built on the corner of E. Columbus Ave. and N. Madriver St. in 1899. They added two teams of horses and kept a horse for drawing the Police Department patrol wagon.
Blair was promoted to the position of fulltime fire chief in 1905 succeeding Russ More. That same year, the city established a new west side fire station on Garfield Ave. with a horse-drawn pumper and one team of horses. This fire house served the west side of Bellefontaine until the bridge was built over the railroad tracks on Sandusky Street. Blair served as Fire Chief of both fire stations.
During Blair’s time as fire chief, the department was called upon to aid some of the largest fires in Logan Couty. In July 1914, DeGraff suffered a major fire that destroyed a large portion of the business district. Fire departments from Quincy, Sidney and Bellefontaine were called to help. The engine from Quincy was hauled by mule team and was there in 30 minutes. The Big Four Railroad brought the Sidney engine and Bellefontaine’s hose reel by special engines. The fire raged for nearly four hours before it was under control.
In June 1922, Huntsville had a fire in the business section of town. The Huntsville fire engine rushed to the scene, but a cylinder in the pump was broken and it would not work. An appeal was made to the Bellefontaine Fire Dept. who came as quickly as possible. A bucket brigade worked feverishly to control the fire until they arrived.
The Bellefontaine Fire Dept. purchased a 750-gallon Seagrave fire engine in April 1927. At that time, they had “three motor-driven fire trucks”. The new fire engine was used when they were called to aid the DeGraff and Quincy fire departments when a fire destroyed a portion of the DeGraff Strayer Block in September of 1927.
In April 1928, the City of Bellefontaine named the street that runs from N. Main St. to N. Park St., Blair Ave. in honor of Chief Blair.
The Bellefontaine Fire Dept. was called to aid the Huntsville Fire Dept. in September 1930 when a house located next to a filling station was engulfed in flames. Chief Blair and driver, Floyd Crain, took their big Seagrave truck to assist. They hooked 550 feet of hose onto the biggest cistern in town and soon had the fire under control.
The Bellefontaine Fire Dept. and other local fire departments aided the Lakeview Fire Dept. in September 1935, when the Minnewawa Dance Hall at Indian Lake was destroyed by fire. The Minnewawa was one of the largest dance halls in the state with capacity for up to 2,000 couples. The fire also destroyed a large portion of the roller coaster and boardwalk.
Over the years, Chief Blair oversaw the fire department transition from horse-drawn steam and hand pumpers to gasoline-driven equipment. In 1915, the first piece of motor-driven equipment was a Model T Ford. They kept two horses for the hose wagon just in case they were ever needed, and to pull the police wagon. The second piece of motor-driven equipment purchased was an Ahrens-Fox truck, and then two Seagrave pumpers.
Chief Blair retired on December 31, 1938, with 43 years of service with the Bellefontaine Fire Department. City fireman W.M. “Mac” Hildreth was appointed fire chief after Blair retired.
Note: Horace and Jessie’s daughter, Helen, married Carl “Pete” Stuber in 1915. They purchased the Orr Mansion, that is now part of the History Center, in 1922. Carl owned Stuber’s Bakery and Helen worked at the Index-Republican newspaper. The Stuber’s sold the Orr Mansion to the Milton C. Harrold family in 1926.
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