WILSON ISSUES FIRE PREVENTION DAY PROCLAMATION
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On October 9, 1920, Woodrow Wilson issued the first presidential proclamation of "Fire Prevention Day." The proclamation commemorated the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871.
The Chicago fire started on the evening of October 8 and resulted in the most extensive damage on October 9, 1871. The fire killed 300 persons, destroyed 17,500 buildings & caused $222 million in property damage.
President Wilson called on the states to educate the public on the importance of fire prevention.
In 1925, Calvin Coolidge extended the commemoration to a full week by presidential proclamation. The President wrote...
"It is highly desirable that every effort be made to reform the conditions which have made possible so vast a destruction of the national wealth."
SOURCE
"This Day in History, October 9, 1920," Mystic Stamp Company, www.mysticstamp.com/
Fire Fighter Strazak
Photo by Reytan
www.wikimedia.org/
JFK+50 NOTE
I want to wish my Dad, Roy G. White, a Happy "97th" Birthday. He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on October 9, 1923. Dad served in the U.S. Army in World War II. He was in the Medical Corps stationed in the Philippines. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!
