EIN 26-0803057
@dcfireemsfoundation
Meet Tom, Gene, and Barney
Our archivist Kate Fogle has been hard at work since February on our DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities-funded project: The History of the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department in Images and Videos. In fact, as we were getting started, we were given a challenge that was kind of hard to resist.
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This is a photo of Tom, Gene and Barney running in all their glory down East Capitol Street during what has since become known as The Last Run of the Horses. You see, the horses had been retired thanks to the DC Fire Department's embrace of the modern automobile as fire apparatus. In June 1925, the Department put on an event to honor the horses before they were quite literally put out to pasture. You can read the Washington Post stories covering the practice run and then the actual run below.
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Photos of the last run are available, but we were told a movie studio was there shooting footage and that the resulting film was very hard to find. Could we find it?
Yes, of course -- Kate found it! And now we are sharing it with you!
Our partner, the Friendship Fire Association, is planning to stage a reenactment of the Last Run of the Horses on June 15, 2025 -- the 100 year anniversary of the event. They are restoring the actual fire engine steamer used for the last run, which lives at Engine 3, and hope to run it up East Capitol Street on the anniversary. But first they need to raise money to restore the steamer. Will you donate to our cause? Details here:
