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Pictured: Charles E. Coots, 1911
Credit: Indianapolis Firefighters Museum via Indianapolis-Marion County Public LibraryView Source

Charles E. Coots

Early 20th-century fire chief

(July 22, 1851-Apr. 24, 1930). Coots was born at Hagerstown in Wayne County, Indiana, and grew up in Cambridge City. There he learned the iron molder’s trade and came to Indianapolis to practice it in 1869.

Smoke rises from the middle building in a row of false-fronted, old-fashioned storefronts. Several people are in the streets and firefighters climb ladders leaning against the front of the building. — *Charles E. Coots was one of the 86 firefighters who worked to put out the Bowen-Merrill Company fire, Mar. 17, 1890* **Credit:** Indiana Historical Society View Source

In 1878, he was hired as a substitute lineman with the Indianapolis Fire Department at Engine House No. 6. He quickly worked his way up to station captain in the late 1880s and assistant fire chief in 1896. As a fireman, Coots battled many of the worst fires in the city’s history including South Meridian Street (1888), Bowen-Merrill (1890), and Surgical Institute (1892).

Coots took over as Indianapolis fire chief in 1901 and distinguished himself as an excellent administrator and public official. During his 12-year tenure, he expanded the city’s force from less than 200 to 330 men and directed the transition from horse-to motor-powered fire engines. Indianapolis experienced only one major fire, the Meridian and Louisiana streets fire of 1905, during his career as chief.

WILLIAM D. DALTON (1994)

Revised February 2021

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