Danville Fire Department. Composite photograph, 1907

This collection contains a composite photograph of portraits of firefighters collected from the Fire Department of Danville, Illinois in 1907.

Danville, Illinois, was one of the earliest cities to include firefighters of color in the 19th century. Black firefighters in Danville worked for Fire Company No. 2, established in 1903, on North Walnut Street. The four Black men pictured in this composite have been identified as Dallas Dudley Morris, Edward Bostic[k], John Chavis, and Captain James Cunningham. Cunningham was born near Mansfield, Tennessee, in 1864. He moved to Danville in 1891 and was a police officer before joining the fire department in 1903. Cunningham’s police experience led to his position as Captain of Fire Company No. 2.

This collection consists of a composite photograph from the Danville Fire Department in 1907. The black-and-white portraits of twenty-eight firefighters are each captioned with their first initial and surname.

The Library purchased this collection in 2022 with the support of the Bruce C. Creamer Fund.