FDL’s Forgotten Pipe Man

Historian and author Sally Powers-Albertz will present “Fond du Lac’s Forgotten Pipe Man,” the 1909 story of Jared Taylor, a member of the Taylor Park family and pipe man (hose tender) for the FDL Fire Dept. at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 17, at the Fond du Lac Public Library. The program is free; no registration required.

Until 2012, it was not realized that Taylor had died from injuries received during the horrendous Winnebago Furniture fire. The fascinating Taylor family is followed through the years and includes Henry Clay Taylor of the Wisconsin 21st Volunteer Infantry Regiment, who languished in the notorious Andersonville Prison during the Civil War, and ends with Jane Teresa Taylor, a World War I nurse who served behind the front lines in France.

Powers-Albertz will have copies her book, “Fond du Lac’s Forgotten Pipe Man,” for sale and signing. Program, in the History at Home series, is free; no registration required.

History at Home is a monthly series of talks that bring the area’s and state’s past into full view. Upcoming programs:

August 21: “Wheel Fever: How Wisconsin Became a Great Bicycling State,” presented by author Nick Hoffman

September 18: Yellowstone Trail, presented by Mark Mowbray

October 16:  The History of the Brothertown Nation, presented by Patty Loew and members of the Brothertown Nation

November 20: Christmas on Main Street, presented by Mary Leb of the Fond du Lac Public Library.

In the photo above taken around 1909 a crew posing inside the fire house on north Main Street; Jared Taylor might be the man second from right. The intertwined histories of the Taylor family and the early days of the Fond du Lac Fire Dept. will be explored by historian Sally Powers-Albertz in “Fond du Lac’s Forgotten Pipe Man” at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 17, at the Fond du Lac Public Library. The History at Home program is free, no registration required.