”The year 1880, marked a new era in the history of the Dayton fire department. In April of that year, the legislature passed an act establishing the present metropolitan department on a bi-partisan basis. The first commissioners appointed July 5, 1880, …Charles H. Ware, May 25, 1888 to April 19, 1900,…”

Reference Data:

History of the City of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, by Augustus Waldo Drury, 1909, page 523