Bloomer Gill had several jobs during his lifetime. One of his first jobs was helping his mother Louisa Baker Gill as she developed & sold building lots from the Gill family land holdings. These “Gill’s Additions” included much of West Church Street, Gill Avenue, Walker Street, as well as what was then known as Gill Park and nearly all of what is today Heise Park. After Mrs. Gill moved to Dixon, Illinois to be near her daughter Carrie, Bloomer turned to the business community. He became a partner with Henry C. Sponhauer in a hardware store in uptown Galion. When Galion established a “paid” fire department in 1886, H.C. Sponhauer became the first fire chief. He also was a boilermaker and owned a machine shop just east of the present day site of St. Joe’s Activity Center. For those of you who take a tour of the Gill House and venture into the attic, a pressure tank bearing the name “H. Sponhauer” still exists. Mr. Sponhauer was the grandfather of longtime fireman and later assistant fire chief, Joel Martien.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 23:12:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015