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Elkins Park Fire Company
A 113 Year History
"Millionaire Firemen Protect Elkins Park" announced the headline in the Philadelphia North American. "Men of Prominence Protect Property and Lives in Suburbs", The Press echoed in its story. The subject of all this journalistic attention was the Old York Road Fire Company of Cheltenham, a band of public-spirited activists which was first organized on September 20, 1892 after a dreadful fire took the lives an adult servant and several children.
The organization was worthy of note in the press for many reasons. Organized fire fighting was relatively unknown in the Philadelphia suburban area in 1892, thus the Elkins Park Company was the first to be established in Cheltenham Township, and one of the first in the Old York Road area. But, as the headlines indicate, the newspapers were most captivated with the idea of prominent and wealthy citizens being involved in such an enterprise. They were amused with the picture of men in frock coats and cravats pulling fire engines and laying hose.
Indeed, many illustrious persons were associated with the Elkins Park Fire fighters. They bore names such as Wanamaker, Elkins, Israel, Widener, Shoemaker, Stetson, and Wall. But, the history of fire fighting in the United States had, from the beginning, involved the efforts of the most distinguished citizens of our fledgling country. Peter Stuyvesant had formed the first fire department, in New Amsterdam in 1647- a "paid" department, strangely enough, as was that formed by the Burghers of Boston in 1679. However, such municipal efforts depended in great part upon the volunteer efforts of public-spirited citizen's efforts which were woefully disorganized. Thus, toward the end of coordinating the manpower involved in fighting fires, the first volunteer fire company was formed in Boston on September 30, 1718. And from there, the volunteer movement was brought to Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin, who, with Isaac Paschal, Samuel Powel, William Rawle, and Samuel Syme, founded the Union Fire Company of Philadelphia on the evening of December 7, 1736.
Once the institution of volunteer firefighting began, it spread rapidly to all of the major towns of the Republic. At first, efforts were directed mostly against keeping fire from spreading. Burning houses were pulled down by means of large metal hooks on chains and then doused with water from leather buckets which had been thrown into the street by the citizenry at the first cries of "fire". Then more effective methods were developed employing pumping "engines" which were hand drawn and hand powered. Chemical powered engines followed, only to be succeeded in turn by horse-drawn steam engines, which were themselves replaced by automotive gasoline-powered engines. Along with the developments in machinery came the introduction of fire hydrant systems, flexible coupled hose, and large portable ladders.
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