Nashville Fire Department
Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee
Marker Inscription
Nashville Fire Department The city's first fire-fighting force of volunteers was formed in May 1807. The first paid Dept. was organized on July 29. 1860, with J.S. Dashiell as chief. Three horse-drawn steam engines were bought. A telegraph alarm system was installed in 1875. Chief A.A. Rozetta used the first auto Nov. 21. 1910. First gasoline driven engines were used Sept. 1912
Erected by Historical Commission of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County
The Story
Nashville's first firefighting force, a company of volunteers, formed in May 1807, and the city organized its first paid department in 1860 under Chief J.S. Dashiell, equipped with horse-drawn steam engines. A telegraph alarm system arrived in 1875, and the department entered the motor age when Chief A.A. Rozetta used the first automobile in 1910, followed by gasoline-driven engines in 1912. The marker traces a century of the city's evolving fire protection.
Why it matters
The department's story mirrors the modernization of American cities, as horse and steam gave way to telegraph alarms and motorized engines in the fight against fire.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Republic Aviation P-47 Thunderbolt Plant
Evansville, IN
On this site during World War II, Republic Aviation Corporation ran a plant that became a linchpin of Evansville's remarkable wartime industrial mobilization. Between 1942 and 1945, more than five thousand men and women here built 6,242 P-47 Thunderbolts—the rugged, hard-hitting fighter prized for its speed and durability. Evansville, like many mid-American cities, transformed almost overnight from a regional manufacturing town into an arsenal-of-democracy powerhouse.
Nashville Firefighters and EMS Memorial
Nashville, TN
In Nashville, as in cities across America, the work of firefighters and emergency medical crews grew alongside the dense, fast-growing urban neighborhoods they were sworn to protect. This memorial honors the long line of local first responders who answered calls into burning buildings and to the scenes of accidents and emergencies, some of them never returning home. It gathers the past, present, and future of that service into a single tribute to civic courage.
Thomas Green Ryman
Nashville, TN
Thomas Green Ryman rose to prominence as a Nashville riverboat captain and businessman in the late 19th century. Moved by a revival preacher, he devoted his fortune and energy to building the Union Gospel Tabernacle, a grand hall meant to host religious gatherings. After his death in 1904, the building was renamed the Ryman Auditorium in his honor, later becoming the legendary 'Mother Church of Country Music.'
Sewart Air Force Base
Smyrna, TN
During World War II the airfield outside Smyrna became one of the many training bases that transformed sleepy Southern towns into hubs of the American war effort. This memorial honors Major Allan J. Sewart, Jr., a Tennessee airman lost in the Pacific theater in 1942, whose name the installation later carried in tribute. It is a reminder that behind every base name stood a real person and a real loss.