Last night, we watched the original Ghostbusters, which is always fun. Coincidentally and just in time to inspire this post, today I ran across this article from Dan Lewis at Now I Know that opens with that film and evolves into a fascinating discussion of why firehouses have poles.
Curious horses, that’s why!
How Horses Created Firehouse Poles – Now I Know
…in the late 1870s, “David Kenyon of Company 21, an all-African-American firehouse in Chicago [. . .] reached the ground by sliding down a wooden pole normally used to bale hay for horses.” Kenyon realized that this could be made into a permanent feature…
Read the whole thing for more on why poles were not just a good idea, but critical for firefighters. Spoiler alert, it’s not just because sliding down poles is fun!
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J.R. Johnson 
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