Milwaukee Fire Department will celebrate its 150th anniversary on Saturday, Sept. 13 from noon until 4 p.m. at Henry Maier Festival Park (aka the Summerfest grounds).
The event will include displays of modern and antique fire apparatus, fire safety education, food vendors, live music and more.
Admission and parking are free.
“For 150 years we have worked to serve, protect, and educate our community," said MFD Fire Chief Aaron Lipski. "To celebrate this incredible milestone, we’ve pulled together family-friendly activities, great food, entertainment, and community collaborations that make Milwaukee special.
“We could think of nothing better than to host this event alongside Milwaukee Festivals Inc., producers of Summerfest.”
MFD was established on Jan. 1, 1875 to replace an array of volunteer fire companies – dating back to 1837 – with professional firefighters.
By 1875, the department had 119 men working 10 horse-drawn steam engines and a pair of chemical engines.
Nowadays, according to the MFD website, the department has about 700 firefighters, 30 fire stations, 30 engines, eight trucks, 13 paramedic units six battalion chiefs, two heavy rescue units, a dive rescue team and the Trident fireboat.
Retired Deputy Chief Jim Ley – a passionate MFD historian – is putting together a 150th anniversary yearbook, details of which can be found here.
Here's a look at the Engine 2 building, 1303 N. 4th St., seen in the photo above, and demolished in November 2023.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
