"I Didn"t Know That"

[BGross]

This is a portion of an article found in the Reader’s Digest. The article is entitled There’s a Mouse in Your Muscle, How animals taught us to talk, written by Martha Barnette.

We buff a waxed floor, call someone in great shape buff, even ask politicians if they sleep in the buff. Strangely, all these buffs arise from the obsolete English word buffe, from the French word for buffalo. When buffalo were abundant in the 19th century, buffalo hide was a popular material for making coats. The yellowish color of the skins inspired the expression in the buff - an allusion to the similarity of buff leather and human skin tones. The name buff leather was then applied to other types of soft leather used for polishing metal to a high gloss-inspiring the verb to buff and our more modern adjective buff.

But that's not all. New York City firefighters once wore buffalo-skin coats. Amateur firefighters tagged along on calls, emulating the pros right down to their buff-colored coats. The volunteers came to be known as buffs, which came to include other kinds of enthusiasts too.

See what other interesting items you can add.

[Observer]

The version that I have read in some fire service histories say that when FDNY replaced the volunteer departments in 1865, some of the former volunteers who were wealthy would still go to fires to watch the pros do it. In the winter, they would wear buffalo robes which were in style at the time. There's probably some truth in both versions. However, I doubt that the firefighters wore buffalo robes when fighting fire.

[BGross]

I don't think they are refering to the shaggy hair type of coats, but rather the tanned skins of the buffalo. This type of coat may have afforded them some protection back then.

[buckin'dasystem]

Is guppy considered a BUFF? He's hairy and looks like a buffalo....

[firestrike]

Guppy may very well be buff, what a minute Ill check Darwin's evolutionary chart......:cool:

[illbedam]

Originally posted by buckin'dasystem
Is guppy considered a BUFF? He's hairy and looks like a buffalo.... Isn't Buff short for Buffoon??

[Dowser]

What, please, is the URL of Guppy's site?

thanks, dowser

[regs1]

dcfire.com

[Dowser]

thanks for the reply

[BMIG]

Gas Mask (Click image for larger view)
Garrett Morgan was an inventor and businessman from Cleveland, who invented a device called the Morgan safety hood and smoke protector in 1914. On July 25, 1916, Garrett Morgan made national news for using his gas mask to rescue 32 men trapped during an explosion in an underground tunnel 250 feet beneath Lake Erie. Morgan and a team of volunteers donned the new "gas masks" and went to the rescue. After the rescue, Morgan's company received requests from fire departments around the country who wished to purchase the new masks. The Morgan gas mask was later refined for use by U.S. Army during World War I. In 1914, Garrett Morgan was awarded a patent for a Safety Hood and Smoke Protector. Two years later, a refined model of his early gas mask won a gold medal at the International Exposition of Sanitation and Safety, and another gold medal from the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
The Inventor's Early Life
The son of former slaves, Garrett Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky on March 4, 1877. His early childhood was spent attending school and working on the family farm with his brothers and sisters. While still a teenager, he left Kentucky and moved north to Cincinnati, Ohio in search of opportunity.

[BMIG]

In 1912, Morgan developed another invention, much different from his hair straightener. Morgan called it a Safety Hood and patented it as a Breathing Device, but the world came to know it as a Gas Mask. The Safety Hood consisted of a hood worn over the head of a person from which emanated a tube which reached near the ground and allowed in clean air. The bottom of the tube was lined with a sponge type material that would help to filter the incoming air. Another tube existed which allowed the user to exhale air out of the device. Morgan intended the device to be used "to provide a portable attachment which will enable a fireman to enter a house filled with thick suffocating gases and smoke and to breathe freely for some time therein, and thereby enable him to perform his duties of saving life and valuables without danger to himself from suffocation. The device is also efficient and useful for protection to engineers, chemists and working men who are obliged to breathe noxious fumes or dust derived from the materials in which they are obliged to work."

The National Safety Device Company, with Morgan as its General Manager was set up to manufacture and sell the device and it was demonstrated at various exhibitions across the country. At the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation, the device won first prize and Morgan was award a gold medal. While demonstrations were good for sales, the true test of the product would come only under real life circumstances.

That opportunity arose on July 24, 1916 when an explosion occurred in a tunnel being dug under Lake Erie by the Cleveland Water Works. The tunnel quickly filled with smoke, dust and poisonous gases and trapped 32 workers underground. They were feared lost because no means of safely entering and rescuing them was known. Fortunately someone at the scene remembered about Morgan's invention and ran to call him at his home where he was relaxing. Garrett and his brother Frank quickly arrived at the scene, donned the Safety Hood and entered the tunnel. After a heart wrenching delay, Garrett appeared from the tunnel carrying a survivor on his back as did his brother seconds later. The crowd erupted in a staggering applause and Garrett and Frank reentered the tunnel, this time joined by two other men. While they were unable to save all of the workers, the were able to rescue many who would otherwise have certainly died. Reaction to Morgan's device and his heroism quickly spread across the city and the country as newspapers picked up on the story. Morgan received a gold medal from a Cleveland citizens group as well as a medal from the International Association of Fire Engineers, which also made him an honorary member.

Soon, orders came in from fire and police departments across the country. Unfortunately, many of these orders were canceled when it was discovered that Morgan was Black. Apparently, many people would rather face danger and possibly death than rely on a lifesaving device created by a Black man. Nonetheless, with the outbreak of World War I and the use of poisonous gases therein, Morgan's Safety Hood, now known as the Gas Mask was utilized by the United States Army and saved the lives of thousands of soldiers.




-------------------------------------------------------------------------

[BGross]

BMIG....this is what I had in mind when I orginally started this thread, not the slander that some of the smaller minds turned it into. I can only hope others will follow. Who knows....maybe we can all learn something about our chosen profession besides putting the wet stuff on the read stuff.

[BMIG]

[Note: This information is condensed from material gathered by the staff of Women in the Fire Service, primarily in 1992.

The first woman firefighter we know of was African-American. Held under slavery by a male New York City firefighter, Molly Williams worked on Oceanus Company No. 11 in the 1780's, and was said to be "as good a fire laddie as many of the men."

From that bittersweet beginning, it was to be many years before free African-American women began to create their legacy within the U.S. fire service. As many as 500 Black women now work as career firefighters and officers in the United States, along with an unknown number of counterparts in the volunteer ranks. The history of these pioneers has not been saved in any systematic way, and we hope this brief listing of some of the names that are known will serve as inspiration for the collection of more comprehensive histories.

The earliest Black women career firefighters

In June of 1976, a Black woman named Toni McIntosh was hired by the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fire Department. She was probably the first African-American woman to become a career firefighter. She was also the only female firefighter on the PFD for more than eleven years.


The District of Columbia Fire Department, which has been one of the nation's leaders in hiring Black women, employs more than fifty as firefighters and an even larger number in EMS. Beatrice Rudder, hired in the first group of women in 1977, later became a sergeant, the first woman to be promoted in the DCFD. She currently holds the rank of Deputy Chief, and heads the department's training division.


(Of course Chief is now in DFC/FFD office)

[BMIG]

Grimke School


Francis Grimke'

Francis Grimke' was born in South Carolina to a slave mother and a white planter father. He and his brother Archibald (who later became U.S.consult to Santo Domingo) were taken north for education at Harvard and Princeton by their father's kin. Grimke' (1850-1937) served for fifty years as a community leader and as pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church. He was one of the most dinstinguished clergymen of his time and an outspoken critic of racial discrimination.



Now you know who 1923 Vermont ave(Grimke school) is named after.

[Phantom]

Do you have a source for the history of the names of the DC Public Schools?

[BMIG]

Pasted this from a DC tourism website. Thought some folks might be interested in reading it.

AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE
TRAIL DATA

Fire Station #4

Location: 913 R Street, NW

Fire Station #4 became the first all-black fire fighting company in Washington on April 3, 1919. Prior to the forming of this company, the fire department had been racially integrated. The request for the all-black company was instituted by one of the four black firefighters working for the city at the time who apparently believed that his only opportunity for advancement was within an all-black unit. In 1943 Gordon Parks photographed the fire company in the station and in action. The station was later changed to Fire Station #7. The current Fire Station #4 is located on Sherman Avenue between Euclid Street and Barry Place, NW.

Sources:
C.O. Glory, 100 Years of Glory, 1871-1971: District of Columbia Fire Department (Washington: Mount Vernon Publishing, 1971).

[LT Mick]

BMIG

Thank you for all of this important information and education.

Please keep up the good work of education us, especially during Black History month.

I hope I am not the only white male who is enjoying the education.

Tim McMenamin

[stillagoodjob]

Do you have a source for the history of the names of the DC Public Schools?

It only took a few months....

http://www.exploredc.org/index.php?id=15&PHPSESSID=7bd8a939aa673401eec4762a88f4a6aa

[Phantom]

Cool thanks

[BMIG]

A little more interesting reading.



History of District of Columbia
Fire and Police Call Boxes

Elaborate fire call boxes like the one at left were first installed in Washington in the 1860s. They complimented a large system of gas street light illumination, first installed in the city streets in 1848. The peak of gas illumination was reached in 1926, when there were 12,371 gaslights burning in the city. Fire call box 17 at left was installed at 4 1/2 Street, and was typical of these early designs; a round cast iron base with a tall lamp post atop which concealed a gas burner. Red glass with etched white lettering was illuminated from behind with a constantly burning gas light. They were manufactured by the Gamewell Corporation of Newton, Massachusetts. The pedestal designed for Washington is called a "Nott" Post and was the original pedestal used for holding Fire alarm box; it was painted gray with the alarm box painted red.

This type of box required the sender to break the glass, turn the key and open the door, then pull down hook inside to transmit the alarm to a central alarm office where the box number tapped out on a bell, flashed on a red signal light, and punched out its number on a paper tape register much like a stock ticker. There was also a telegraph key and sounder inside each box, which the chief, or chief's driver could use to order a greater alarm or fire all-out signal to the central alarm office.

A 1923 decision to convert the gaslights to electric was gradually enforced over the following decade, and the last three gaslights were turned off on June 23, 1934. However, many gaslight bases may have been retained with the lamp pole cut off approximately four feet from the ground and a Fire or Police call box welded on top of the ornate base.


Each fire alarm box had a spring wound movement like an alarm clock which when the box was pulled sent in four rounds of its location code number to alarm office. The first call boxes installed Washington in the 1860s were painted black and kept locked. A sign over the box on the pole notified where the key could be found. Each key was numbered and trapped in the door until the department arrived so they could see who opened the box to send the alarm. Starting in the late 1880's the color scheme changed when Police boxes were introduced, which were painted blue, and the Fire call boxes painted red.

By the mid-1890's when the cables were placed underground in conduits, they started using ornamental iron posts to mount the boxes, and possibly the older gas light bases. By the late 1910's DC began using a telephone handset, which plugged into the box for voice communication with the alarm office operators, such as the one above pictured at 7th and Indiana Avenue, N.W. By the early 1930's newer boxes were used which added a quick action door on the front - the user simply pulled down the door and pulled the hook to send in the alarm.

These Police and Fire call boxes had a simple pole and protected light on top, which was constantly illuminated to aid public and police in locating the boxes at night. Fire call boxes provided a protected switch for residents and pedestrians to pull in the event of a fire, signaling the department in a central dispatch office that a fire had been spotted in that particular block. These boxes were painted red, identified with a number, and featured an orange light on top. One of the fire boxes was illustrated in the December 14, 1946 Washington Daily News, pictured at right.
Boxes were manufactured by prisoners at the Lorton Correctional Facility. (Courtesy of the Washingtoniana Division of the D.C. Public Library).


Police call boxes, on the other hand, were sealed boxes that a patrol officer would use a key to enter and flip a switch to notify a central command center that his patrol was proceeding as normal and that no assistance was necessary. Police officers pulled a different box switch on their patrol route every thirty minutes. It also featured a telephone that officers could use to communicate problems to the central command. Their patrol routes were called "Carney Blocks" after an officer that devised the system, with the overall effort coined the "Patrol Signal System" or "PSS."



A 1941 ad for an Exide system
featuring a Gamewell box
The Police call box was painted blue, and illumination of the light at night provided an officer the location of the box in case of emergency when they needed to call for backup. Each box had a number affixed, and Policemen quickly identified problem areas in neighborhoods by the unique call box number. All early police boxes were on party lines so the cop would have to pull the box lever to identify which box he was at on the circuit. There was also a pointer in the early boxes for Ambulance, Paddy Wagon, Riot, Fire, etc., so special signals could be sent in. The front door had a citizen's key, which by inserting the key in the door a wagon call could be sent in for accidents, etc. by a passersby.
Paul Ponzelli, a retired police officer, recalls call boxes in Georgetown having heavy rings affixed to the base in which an officer could handcuff a suspect and use the phone call the central command center to send a car to take the individual to the station, all the while continuing his rounds. Ponzelli also revealed that two call boxes were executed in polished brass, one being located in front of the White House, and one being at Union Station. That one was used by Roosevelt when his train arrived at the station to signal the White House that he required a motorcade to the executive mansion. The box remains in a private collection.

Throughout tenure of the PSS system, the yearly City Directories recorded detailed annual statistics. In 1926, it reported information on the 1,500 Call Boxes extant that year such as total number of calls, false alarms, number of boxes wired from above or from underground, number of fire and police responses, and the number of call boxes added each year.

Other cities also had call box systems manufactured by such companies as Gamewell. Several different styles of bases and boxes were made but were individually designed for that particular city. San Francisco still operates a call box system with both the police and fire boxes attached to a single pole, illustrated at right. The early gas light poles and call boxes in some cities like NY and Boston had the operating instructions etched in the red glass atop the box.

In most cities walkie-talkies and car two-way radios caused the downfall of the police and fire boxes. The call boxes in Washington were maintained by the Department of Public Works with many remaining in use until 1976, when the 911 system of emergency contact was established in the city. Most of the Fire call boxes were abandoned after the 1968 riots, when civil unrest destroyed many of those in the affected areas, and others were continually used for false alarms.

October 2000, Paul K. Williams
DC Heritage Tourism Coalition

[NorthSTAR]

BMIG:
Now that is quite an interesting find! I assume that was culled from the http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/ website? Didn't even know such a neat site existed till now.