John Hobart Jansen - First Waukegan Fireman to Die in Line of Duty

John Hobart Jansen (1861 - 1908) was the first member of the Waukegan Fire Department to die in the line of duty.

The son of Prussian immigrants, John was born near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and worked on his family's farm. When he was about 23 years old, he left the farm to work as a lineman for the Milwaukee phone company, and two years later became a fireman with the Milwaukee Fire Department as a "truckman" on hook and ladder #2.

In 1892, John married Jenny Van Arnam. About 1902, John and Jenny and their four children moved to Waukegan. John took a job as the manager of the the Chicago Telephone Company's Waukegan branch. While working for the phone company, he also volunteered as a fireman for the Waukegan Fire Department.

Waukegan Fire Department Time Log Book, with last
listing for "Jansen" on April 19, 1908, Dunn Museum Collections.

At 11 p.m. on April 22, 1908, while heading from his job at the phone company, Jansen heard the alarm for a fire at the North Shore Electric Company. Instead of continuing home, Jansen turned around to assist his fellow firemen.

When the firemen arrived at the plant on Spring Street they found that "the belt on the big fly wheel was burning, that the interior of the plant had caught fire, and that the fly wheel was running wild."

Jansen was "aiding in bringing more hose to the firemen fighting the flames" when the drive wheel burst. "Jansen was picked up bodily by a huge fragment and carried through both walls of the Waukegan Ice Company building where his body was picked up bleeding and terribly mangled." He was rushed toward the Jane McAlister Hospital on North Avenue, but died en route.

Damaged buildings on Spring Street in Waukegan after fire in which
Fireman John Hobart Jansen was struck down about 11:30 p.m., April 22, 1908.
Image courtesy private collection.

Also killed was merchant policeman, Joseph Paddock (1879 - 1908). Paddock had been "standing with his back up against the wall of the Phil Sheridan saloon when one of the monstrous spokes of the giant wheel came crashing through both walls of the Waukegan Ice Company plant and felled him."

According to the papers, scores of locals gathered to watch the fire even though they were warned of the danger. "Fragments of the flying iron and steel filled the air and littered the ground."

On Saturday, April 25, the funeral service for Jansen was held at his residence on North Avenue. The house was packed with mourners, including family, friends, members of the Waukegan Fire Department and other area fire departments, mayor and city councilmen, and Odd Fellows. The city had never seen such a large procession, despite the downpour of rain.

Fireman John H. Jansen, circa 1889.

In 1908, efforts were made to raise funds to create a monument to Jansen, but it would take nearly 100 years before a memorial was made. On a sunny day in May 2005, the Waukegan Fire Department honored John Hobart Jansen with a memorial plaque.

Jansen memorial plaque dedication, May 2005
Fireman's Park on Dover Street, Waukegan.
Photo courtesy of Thomas Jansen.

Special thanks to Thomas and Kenneth Jansen for generously sharing the family's history and research. 

Waukegan Power Plant

The Waukegan Power Plant is located a mile north of Waukegan on the Lake Michigan lakeshore. It is a coal burning electric generating facility operated by the Integrys Energy Group.

EJ&E Railroad engine 703 (above) leads a UP coal train to the Waukegan Power Plant.

Photo by Jeff Easton in 2007 and posted on Railroadforums.com

Until recently, fishermen were allowed to use the pier near the plant. The power plant uses water from Lake Michigan to cool the steam used in the generating process. The water is returned to the lake via a discharge channel, and is warmer than the lake water, which in turn attracts fish. There are now "no fishing" signs posted.

The county's first electric generating coal plant was the Waukegan Electric Light Company. It was founded by Michael Hussey about 1905. Hussey was known as the coal baron of northern Illinois in those early years of the 20th century.

North Shore Electric Company linemen, 1906 (above). At this time, electric service was available only to people in towns, and generally from dusk to dawn. Front row: Bob Jenkinson, Charlie Kreuser, John Riddle (Zion), George Hecksweiler, C. Voss; Back row: Mr. Brooks (Zion), George Jenkinson (Waukegan), Dennis Murphy (Waukegan)

In 1923, Hussey’s company was bought out by Samuel Insull’s Public Service Company of Northern Illinois.

In the early 1910s, Insull set about revolutionizing the availability of electric service. Lake County was his home base and where he set his plans in motion by buying out small, independent power plants. He ran transmission lines and centralized the service, and was able to provide 24-hour electric service to thousands of homes and farms. 

Samuel Insull (1859-1938), founder of Commonwealth Edison. 

His former home is the Cuneo Museum in Vernon Hills, IL.

The Public Service Company of Northern Illinois became Commonwealth Edison, and then Exelon. Several years ago Exelon sold the Waukegan power plant to the Integrys Energy Group.

Power Plant workers, circa 1935. Dunn Museum, 2007.12

In 2007, the museum received a donation of nearly 60 photographs of the Waukegan Power Plant from a private donor. The photos are of plant employees in their daily tasks, posing candidly for the camera, and date from the 1930s to 1970s. 

W. McCoy at a power plant control panel, circa 1970.  Dunn Museum, 2007.12

The images are remarkable because they document the power plant's workforce. Most candid photographs tend to be taken of people on vacation or at special events and gatherings. It is far less common for people to take photographs at work, making this collection all the more fascinating.

Herman Genkinger and Richard "Red" Mathews, 1950. Dunn Museum, 2007.12

Safety award, 1960. Left to right: Vern Stone, Joe Shrank, Murray Joslyn, L. Stang, A. Johnson, George Kreu, P. Root, Bob Lundberg, H. Otto, and K. Leisner. Dunn Museum 2007.12.