In the 1860s and 1870s, people of Irish birth and descent moved more and more into different forms of public service. The city's police and fire departments were both organized in the mid-1860s, and Irish-born Civil War veterans joined both forces. In the 1870s, the city's first two lawyers of Irish birth or descent were admitted to the bar. Both became active in Democratic party politics, leading to a career in government for one of them. The late 1860s and 1870s saw the city's first Irish councilmen and appointments to various government boards and commissions.