George H. Smith: Knoxville's "First" Fallen Firefighter? (Part 1)




Knoxville's firefighter memorial,
Summit Hill, Knoxville

For many Knoxvillians, the memorial to the city's fallen firefighters is a blur as they pass by the statue that sits in front of the main headquarters in a tight bend on Summit Hill. To get a good look at this memorial requires one to exit their car and approach on foot. At the foot of the statue, on the pedestal, one will find the names of Knoxville's fallen firefighters, "those who made the supreme sacrifice answering their last alarm." The first names etched into the memorial begin with a pair of firemen--John J. Dunn and William F. Maxey--who lost their lives battling a fire in the central business district along the 400 block of Gay Street in 1904. Although other Tennessee fire departments such as Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, and Jackson had previously lost firemen in the line of duty, there are no additional names of Knoxville firefighters who precede Dunn and Maxey on the Knoxville memorial. But etched in Tennessee's history of firefighting in a small, rural Middle Tennessee town is a Knoxvillian who preceeded not only Dunn and Maxey, but some 14 firefighters who perished between 1876 and 1904.   

There may be little reason to visit the "thriving metropolis" of Bell Buckle, TN (pop. approx. 500 according to 2010 Census) unless you have family and/or friends there. But if you venture off the beaten path, west of town (i.e. US 231), you will come to Tennessee's Fallen Firefighter Memorial. It is truly a beautiful and moving memorial to those Tennesseans who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in service of their communities and fellow citizens to keep both safe from the vicious fire fiend. There is also on site a memorial to New York City's finest who perished in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 in the form a steel I-beam from one of the World Trade Center's twin towers.



Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial

Once you approach the memorial, you will find atop the brick walls of the memorial the names of 227 fallen firefighters. And although Knoxville and the state of Tennessee seem to differ on who was the first Knoxville firefighter to fall in the line of duty, the first name that appears on the memorial belongs to George H. Smith of the Knoxville Fire Department. Smith perished in a warehouse fire in the early morning hours of December 20, 1876--141 years ago tomorrow. But Smith was no firefighter. Rather he was a prominent businessman who owned a jewelry store and considerable property throughout the city of Knoxville. Why then is Smith listed as the Volunteer state's first fallen firefighter? Time. The passage of time clouded the memories of Knoxvillians who actually knew Smith and their oral histories picked up by a younger generation of Knoxvillians who would pen the history of the city and the fire department simply mistook Smith, the volunteer fireman as Smith, the paid fireman. Moreover, Knoxville did not even have a paid, professional fire department at the time of Smith's death. Over time, Smith's active involvement with the fire department as a concerned, citizen who answered the alarm bell to protect citizens and city property was blurred during the gradual transition from a voluntary to a professional paid fire department in 1885. As such, many Knoxvillians living and writing the city's history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century simply referred to Smith as the city's first fallen firefighter. What soon became a factoid was subsequently published and republished in newspapers and books. Smith's tragic death has been retold or republished countless times following cataclysmic conflagrations or the death of a firefighter in the line of duty. Each October, Smith's name is the first to be read aloud during Knoxville's solemn memorial to the city's fallen firefighters. And today you will find Smith's name on a Bell Buckle, TN memorial as the first casualty among Tennessee's smoke eaters.

So, what happened in the early morning hours of December 20, 1876 that resulted in Smith's death? The tragic story and the danger to the city exposed by the deadly conflagration as a consequence of the inadequate performance of Knoxville's firefighting apparatus during the fire will be revealed in Part 2 tomorrow.   
 

York City's finest who perished in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 in the form of a steel I-beam from one of the World Trade Center's twin towers. Over time, Smith's active involvement with the fire department was blurred during the transition from a voluntary to a professional paid fire department. As such, many older Knoxvillians in the early twentieth century simply referred to Smith as the city's first fallen firefighter and what became a factoid was subsequently published and republished in newspapers and books. Hence, today you will find Smith's name on a Bell Buckle, TN memorial as the first casualty among Tennessee's smoke eaters.