Naperville Fire Department celebrates 150 years of service with historic exhibit
NAPERVILLE, Ill. - In the western suburbs, one of the state's largest fire departments is marking a major milestone—150 years of helping others and serving the community.
First established as a settlement, Naperville has grown into one of the most populous cities in Illinois. Over the years, the Naperville Fire Department has evolved in tandem with the city.
In 2024, the Naperville Fire Department held a series of celebratory events to commemorate its 150th anniversary.
As we approach the New Year, those festivities are now winding down. Still, there's something more than a commemorative patch that will be carried into 2025. It's a standard of excellence—and it's on display.
"This is much more than a job," Chief Mark Puknaitis with the Naperville Fire Department said. "It really is a calling."
When an alarm sounds at any firehouse, men and women suit up and roll out—putting their lives aside to respond to disaster.
"The truth of the matter is, you see people on their worst days," said Puknaitis.
"You’re there to make decisions. You're always thinking ahead," Lt. Jason Briones with the Naperville Fire Department added.
Through acts of bravery and selfless service to the community, firefighters share a unique bond. However, day after day, and year after year of answering call after call, not every department can say they’ve reached their sesquicentennial, known more simply as their 150th anniversary.
"Can’t pass up the opportunity because 150 years only comes around once," said Puknaitis.
Naperville Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis takes pride in the department’s enduring desire for excellence.
"Now here we're recognized as a department that people look at to emulate and replicate all around the region and really all around the country," said Puknaitis.
‘Great service all the time,’ which is imprinted on some of the department’s rigs, is a persistent reminder.
"I've always told everybody that I’ve worked with and everybody I’ve met that I could take my crew, and I felt like you could put me in any city in the United States and we could run great calls there," said Briones.
Lt. Briones has trained many of his peers. Over the years, he's been offered opportunities to keep moving up in the ranks, but he prefers a front-row seat.
"You're up front in what we call the right-hand seat," Briones said. "I absolutely love going to the house, the accident, the fires. And now that I get older, I kind of joke, you kind of need the old guy there now, too."
It’s a job that keeps him coming back after 35 years and counting; 27 of those years have been working for the Naperville Fire Department.
"Today we have a fire department that's made up of 10 fire stations, over 185 people across three shifts, and over 200 people total on the department," said Puknaitis.
Reaching this milestone didn’t happen overnight, though.
To mark the momentous milestone and "to tell the story from the very beginning," Puknaitis added, the Naper Settlement launched an exhibition to highlight the journey.
"Anniversaries provide a really unique opportunity to reflect, to look back," Naper Settlement’s Chief Curator Christine McNulty said.
McNulty, who is the chief curator of the 12-acre, indoor-outdoor museum, pored over archives for months—bringing the department’s history into the spotlight.
"Something often will just spark what the overarching theme will be, and in this case, it was a newspaper article in 1999 when they celebrated the 125th anniversary, which Assistant Chief Mike Connors said that a firefighter needs a strong back and a strong mind," McNulty said.
It soon became the title of the exhibit: ‘A Strong Back and a Strong Mind: 150 Years of the Naperville Fire Department.’
It takes visitors through the Naperville Fire Department’s most important chapters.
"They've taken all of these pieces, and they put them together in one site to tell that great story," Puknaitis said.
When it began, a bucket brigade responded to the town’s emergencies, but after a fire destroyed several buildings in 1874, something new was born.
"Naperville was a very small community, so there were maybe a dozen volunteers that was called Hose Company 1," Puknaitis said.
With that, the department was formed, and for a while, they managed just fine—even without wheels of their own.
"They had the ability by a city ordinance, through the charter in the fire department back then that they could stop a vehicle and say, ‘I need to get to a fire.’ Now, if the person said, ‘I can't take you,’ they would be subject to a fine," Puknaitis shared.
The ordinance is one of the many artifacts you’ll find on display at the Naper Settlement, where pride, honor, and tradition can be felt throughout the exhibit.
"I think it's fascinating to see how long this fire department has been around and still operating," Jim Streu said. "And we still have a lot of the original equipment and the tradition that we've kept."
Streu, a firefighter/paramedic with the Naperville Fire Department, has also kept with tradition—one that’s four generations strong.
"My father was a fireman in Lombard. He was on Engine 45 for 34 years," Streu explained.
In Des Plaines, Streu’s grandfather worked on Truck 81 for more than three decades.
"And then my great-grandfather was on Engine 39 in Chicago and was killed at the stockyards in 1943," Streu said.
The job doesn’t come without risks.
Four Naperville firefighters have lost their lives in the line of duty.
"Three of them happened in a single incident in December of 1970," McNulty said. "The fourth was a gentleman by the name of George Winckler. He was working in the training tower and suffered a cardiac arrest."
They are all honored in the museum's special exhibit.
Also featured is a helmet from retired firefighter Chuck Wehrli, who rushed to Ground Zero in the wake of 9/11.
"We really want to let the community know how special the fire department has been and is today," said Puknaitis.
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, when there's a call, they were and will continue be on the other end—ready to respond.
"All calls are different. You know, there's nothing that's ever always exactly the same," Streu said. "The best part of it is that at the end of the day, we're always just helping somebody."
"To try to make a difference. That's what keeps it going every day for me," said Briones.
"They hand us their babies. They hand us their bodies and they say, ‘help me.’ We have an opportunity to make that situation better, to change that around," Puknaitis said. "It really is an honor to be able to serve the community in that respect because of the trust that they have in us."
There is still time to see the 150th Anniversary Showcase at the Naper Settlement.
The artifacts were set to be packed away by New Year’s Day, but the exhibit has been so well-received by visitors—museum officials are extending its stay through Friday, April 11, 2025.
To learn more about the exhibit, ‘A Strong Back and a Strong Mind: 150 Years of the Naperville Fire Department,’ and to plan your visit, click HERE.