George Henze was born in a log cabin, actually he was the second child delivered in the cabin. The year was 1869, just four years after the Village of Lane changed her name to Rochelle. The cabin had been built initially by John Randall in 1837 and was the first permanent house built in today’s Rochelle. The Henzes built a modern home at 105 S. Main St. just north of the cabin which was removed in 1888.

George Henze attended Rochelle schools and upon graduation began working for American Railway Express Co. It was not long though before George wanted more than a small town could offer. The lure of the big city was too great, and George moved to Chicago. Not only did George move to Chicago, he joined the Chicago Fire Department. These were the early days of firefighting and Chicago was fortunate to have several steam engines to support the hand pumpers and bucket brigades. Fire Chief Dennis Swenie led a determined band of 984 uniformed firefighters and George was proud to be counted among that number. From about 1887 through 1897 George would see enough excitement, adventure and tragedy to fill a lifetime.

After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the city was determined to re-establish their standing as a world-class city. The year 1893 brought the chance to shine that Chicago was looking for. Chicago had been chosen to host the World’s Columbian Exposition also known as the Chicago World’s Fair. Chicago would introduce the world to such marvels as elevators, zippers, Juicy Fruit gum, Cracker Jacks and the Ferris Wheel. 

The Chicago exposition was also known as “the White City” because most of the facilities were painted white and the grounds featured a vast array of statuary and extravagant plaster work on the buildings. When Head Developer Daniel Burnham fell behind, he called upon the services of a Chicago art instructor, Lorado Taft, to help with the artistic items. As most of the male artists were already employed Lorado Taft requested permission to utilize the assistance of several of his female art students. Daniel Burnham declared, “I don’t care if you use white rabbits as long as you get the work done.” From that point on Lorado’s staff was referred to as the White Rabbits. For those of us in Ogle County, Lorado Taft holds a special place, Lorado was part of an artistic community that spent a lot of time in the Oregon area. In 1911 Lorado completed a 44-foot-tall statue officially christened “The Eternal Indian” frequently referred to as the Black Hawk Statue.

The Columbian Exposition also featured a large refrigeration building constructed by the Hercules Iron Works Company of Aurora. The building was one of the largest on the fairgrounds. With six-stories, the structure contained refrigeration storage for all of the vendors on the first floor, ice skating rinks, dance halls, dining rooms, and kitchens on the upper floors. The building also was constructed with a 200-foot black metal chimney. The black chimney was so out of place in the White City that the developers decided to encase the chimney in a wooden cocoon that could easily be painted white. The wooden structure rose above the top of the iron chimney and a cupola (roof) was added to deflect the smoke. 

The year of 1893 had been hard on the Chicago Fire Department. In January two firefighters died, in April another two firefighters were lost. Sadly for George Henze and his fellow fire fighters the worst was yet to come. On July 10, 1893 disaster struck the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. The building housing the cold storage refrigeration had a small fire in the space between the metal chimney and the wooden outer shell. This had happened several times before so there was no immediate concern. The fires happened so frequently that at one point a firefighter was assigned to stand guard on the chimney. By the time of this final fire the insurance companies had refused to cover the structure. The fire grew and climbed within the wooden shell. The firefighters working for the Exposition were quickly overwhelmed and called for aide from the Chicago Fire Department. George Henze was part of the Chicago response. Firefighters used wooden ladders to reach the top of the six- story building and then began their ascent of the 200-foot smokestack. The firefighters drove iron spikes into the side of the structure creating an exterior ladder system to a small ledge just short of the cupola. Using ropes lowered back to the roof the firefighters pulled hose lines up to the ledge. This allowed the firefighters to spray water on the now burning chimney roof. Embers from the fire fell to the base of the chimney and secondary fires were now burning both above and below the firefighters. When the fire broke through the roof of the building the firefighters were trapped. By day’s end 12 firefighters had perished, four Chicago firefighters and eight Exposition firefighters, three of which were also Chicago firefighters working with the Exposition. Another 20 Chicago firefighters were injured. This was the largest firefighter loss of life to the Chicago Department in its short history. 

The end of George Henze’s Chicago firefighting career came shortly after the 1897 Northwestern grain elevator fire. During the fire, the elevator exploded and six firefighters died and another 33 were injured. Whether he had seen enough or simply decided he needed a change, George left the Chicago Fire Department and returned to Rochelle. George did become a member of the Rochelle Fire Department in 1897 and was promoted to the position of Rochelle Fire chief in 1915, a position he held until 1927. He passed in 1936, in the home his family had built on South Main Street and was interred at Lawnridge cemetery.

Tom McDermott is a Flagg Township Museum historian and Rochelle city councilman.