By James Heinz
Once there were over 250 of them.
They lined every street in downtown Milwaukee. Now, only five of these silent green cylindrical sentinels of safety remain. People walk past them every day without knowing the five are a testament to a time when they were part of a cutting edge maritime technology for keeping people and property safe. What are they?
The boat hydrants of downtown Milwaukee.
In 1892, Milwaukee Fire Chief James Foley had two problems. His first problem was that the Milwaukee Harvester plant in the Menomonee River valley was over 1,500 feet away from a conventional fire hydrant. There was a limit to how far and how much water could be pumped through soft hoses by the limited horsepower of the horse drawn steam fired fire engines of the day.
The second problem was that the Port of Milwaukee as we know it today did not exist. All ships coming and going from Milwaukee used the three rivers that flow through the city to load and unload their cargoes. There were 22 miles of riverfront lined with a variety of conflagrations waiting to happen, such as lumber yards, grain elevators, coal yards, tanneries, oil storage tanks, and at least one dynamite storage facility. In the event of a fire, the river sides of these facilities could not be reached by land fire engines.
The Chief’s solution to the first problem was a 1,530 foot pipeline from the river to the plant. The pipeline was dry and water would be pumped into it to get water to boat hydrants at the Harvester plant.
What is a boat hydrant? There is no better explanation of the system than the contemporaneous account carried in the August 28, 1897 edition of Fire Engineering magazine: “In Milwaukee, necessity gave birth to the idea, which was first suggested by the need of a pipe line from the river to an isolated manufactory in a section where the water mains had not penetrated. The pipe was laid and the first test with a fireboat at the river end showed a complete success. Chief Foley of the fire department says that a fireboat at the end of a pipe line is worth from three to six engines, according to the length of the line.”
“The power for these lines is furnished at the wharf by the fireboats. At convenient intervals special hydrants are placed. It is the water pressure furnished by the boats that determines the streams.”
The docents at the Milwaukee Fire Museum, located at 1615 W. Oklahoma Avenue, have constructed an exhibit showing how the system worked. By 1929, there were 29 mains of eight inch or ten inch pipe that stretched for a total of 33 miles, each main connected to the river, and 261 boat hydrants. The Great Depression put an end to the expansion of the system.
At first the boat hydrants had a hose attached that ran to a special nozzle on an adjustable stand built by the Fire Department repair shops, called a “street jack”. Later the boat hydrants would be connected to land fire engines. The boat hydrants were painted green to distinguish them from other hydrants and are of a different construction than most hydrants, being taller, thinner, and with two hose connections.
But a boat hydrant is only as good as the fireboat it is connected to. And this is the story of those fireboats, the boats that protected Milwaukee.
So ends Chapter 1 of: THE BOATS THAT KEPT MILWAUKEE SAFE
- Once there were over 250 of them
- The beginning
- What’s its name again?
- Out with the coal, in with the diesel
- Gone but still around
PHOTOS: The boat hydrants are located in a two block stretch on the south side of Michigan Street between Broadway and Jefferson. One is at St. Paul and Broadway.
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James Heinz is the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society’s acquisitions director. He became interested in maritime history as a kid watching Jacques Cousteau’s adventures on TV. He was a Great Lakes wreck diver until three episodes of the bends forced him to retire from diving. He was a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee police officer for thirty years. He regularly flies either a Cessna 152 or 172.
