An exceptional photo of a technological breakthrough from Chicago! The pole was invented by CFD firefighter David Kenyon in 1878 - and became an almost universal feature of fire stations all over the World for almost a century, before they started to disappear from some countries on safety grounds...
Rob, If you Google old fire station Bournemouth you will see what I mean . The two bays on the left and front door was the original part opening in 1903. The two right hand bays war added in the 1930s. The pole which is still in situ is centre of building at the back.
Added by Rob Johnson on 06 June 2018.