JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More than 130 years later, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department honored its first line of duty death with a service to set a new headstone for Henry J. Bradley.
A research group of active and retired JFRD members discovered Bradley was buried in the Old City Cemetery but that no headstone marked his grave, which could not be located.
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To keep his legacy alive, the group raised money through private donations to purchase a headstone for Bradley, which was unveiled Tuesday at the cemetery at East Union and Cemetery streets.
Bradley was an African American firefighter who died on Dec. 16, 1885, after a blazing wall collapsed on him while he was fighting a massive fire on Bay Street downtown.
The fire destroyed businesses, warehouses and wharves along several blocks.
According to JFRD, Bradley’s death led to a movement among Jacksonville’s insurance companies, which had suffered losses in the fire, to create a paid fire department, and on July 15, 1886, the City Council created the Jacksonville Fire Department.
The motto behind Bradley’s headstone: “Honor the man and the sacrifice.”