The "Phelim O'Toole" - Irish-American Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Phelim O'Toole was born in 1848 in County Wicklow near Dublin, Ireland. He arrived in St Louis in 1866 and took residence in Kerry Patch a rough Irish neighborhood on the near north side of St Louis and he became a firefighter. He became known as a hero the night of April 11, 1877, the night of the tragic Southern Hotel fire. The Southern Hotel was located at Fourth and Elm and was a 6 story luxury hotel. The night of the fire there were 300 guests staying at the hotel. When Phelim arrived with his early version of a hook and ladder pulled by horses, he found many people trapped higher than the ladders would reach. He had them lower bedsheets down and he swung out on a rope to the lowered sheets and climbed to the smoke filled rooms. He then lowered the individuals down and then moved on to rescue others. The last rescue he made was done just minutes before the entire hotel collasped. There were 21 people who lost their lives in the Southern Hotel fire but there were 12 who own their lives to the heroic actions of Phelim O'Toole.
Phelim O'Toole lost his life July 6, 1880 when called to put out a small fire and the fire extinguisher he was using exploded. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery coordinates are N38 42.120 W090 13.981. (a good place to visit also)

The St Louis Fire Department christened their Fire Marine Rescue Unit's fireboat, the "Phelim O'Toole". The "Phelim O'Toole" was obtained from the U.S. Coastguard in 1994 and has the capability of delivering 500 gallons of water a minute in its firefighting role.

To read more about Phelim O'Toole (visit link)

When visiting the "Phelim O'Toole" remain on shore and do not go on to the docks. The boat is somewhat hidden by other structures at the dock. The coordinates above may be in the river depending on the river level.

Website with background information about this Waymark: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/15/2011 Queens Blessing visited it