Innovation of the Era!
1600s

"Peg Leg Pete?"Sounds Like a Pirate Name To Me!

Because Peter Stuyvesant, Director General (Governor) of the Dutch colony of New Netherland in the New World (America) appointed the first volunteer firemen, he is regarded as the founder of the volunteer firefighting force in what would later become America. Stuyvesant had lost his right leg (below the knee) during a campaign to capture more land for the Dutch in the Caribbean. Thus he was often referred to as "Peg Leg Pete" or "Old Silver Nails" because of the silver bands that encircled his wooden leg. It was said that the discomfort he felt from his wooden leg made him very cranky.
1948 postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service honoring Peter Stuyvesant as the organizer of the first volunteer firemen in what would later become America.