As our research continues we have found that the volunteer fire department in the United States was located in Philadelphia and was created in 1736 by Benjamin Franklin. Both George Washington and Ben Franklin were volunteer firefighters, Washington in Virginia and Franklin in Philadelphia. The first fire departments were volunteer until municipals gained control of departments. They made fire department city regulated to maintain political control because fire departments were social organizations that voted as a groups during elections prior to the Civil War. Do to this, we have determined that the badges located at Drake Well appeared to be town control while the citizen ones are strictly volunteer. We will further analysis Bradford, Clarion, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh to determine how uniforms and badges have changed within the development of volunteer to municipal controlled departments. The group has decided upon these locations based on Pennsylvania industry.
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