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Mr. Donald E. Minton's Oral History - Transcription
This is the transcription of Donald E. Minton's oral history. He was interviewed by Betty Turnell on November 14, 1988. The interview includes his time with the Decatur Fire Department.
Photograph of Arthur C. Spence
Photograph of Arthur C. Spence; died March 3, 1955; married to Mary Stine in 1906. Assistant Fire Chief, retired May 1941 after serving 39 years. Member of Grace Methodist Church, the Ionic Lodge 312, AF&AM, and the Springfield Consistory.
Photograph of Ed Platt Receiving Medal
Photograph of Fire Chief Ed Platt being presented by Commissioner Tom Moran a gold medal as a token of the esteem of businessmen and friends of the East Eldorado street business district in which is located No. 2 firehouse where he served for 39…
Photographs of Will Platt
Photographs of Will Platt; died March 12, 1948; married to Gertrude Ruthrauff. Decatur fire chief from June, 1933 to 1941 when he retired. Served 49 years and 2 months with fire department; first appointed in March, 1892.
Photograph of Edward Platt and Lawrence L. Gibbons
Photograph of Fire Chief Edward Platt and head of detectives Lawrence L. Gibbons as Chief Platt claims the trophy as a token of his department having won the annual firemen-policemen baseball game.
Photographs of Ira D. Leech
Photographs of Ira D. Leech; died November 20, 1963. Served in World War I and returned to Decatur to become a member of the Fire Department in 1920. After working for a year as a hoseman, he was briefly laid off in 1921, but returned in 1922 as a…
Photograph of Charles W. Devore
Photograph of Charles W. Devore; died March 31, 1920. Decatur Fire Chief for 30 years and on the Fire Department force for 36 years. He was appointed a member of the National Bureau of Fire Prevention. He was the last member of the first paid Fire…
Photograph of Fire Truck Designed by Fire Chief
Photograph of a fire truck designed by Fire Chief Will Platt of Decatur. Costing nearly $17,000 and weighing almost 8 tons, the truck embodied a radical change in cab style and equipment. Seven men, including the driver, rode in the cab; none on the…
Photograph of the Fire Department's Chief car.
Photograph of the Fire Department's Chief car. Date unknown.