USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Greenwich > Ye historie of ye town of Greenwich, county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, with genealogical notes on the Adams. > Part 29
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The fire apparatus of this company now consists of a steamer, hook and ladder truck, patrol wagon, hose wagon, auto chemical hose wagon, and jumper. The jumper is the only part of the original apparatus left.
VOLUNTEER HOOK AND LADDER AND HOSE COMPANY, NO. 2. Incorporated, 1892.
The Volunteer Hook and Ladder and Hose Company, No. 2, was organized early in January, 1892, at a meeting held in the Lent Building, corner of Greenwich and Railroad Avenues, and the following officers were elected: John Hor- ton, Foreman; Edward Sheeran, Ist Assistant Foreman;
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
Benjamin Evesson, 2d Assistant Foreman. It was incor- porated on the twenty-seventh day of August, 1892. The company was reorganized on the eighteenth day of June, 1895, at a meeting held in a barn on Grigg Street owned by Jesse Reynolds, and the following officers were elected: John L. Mahoney, Foreman; John Doran, Ist Assistant Foreman; Benjamin Evesson, 2d Assistant Foreman; Harry Doran, Secretary; William J. Smith, Treasurer. It purchased a jumper and hose, which were received in the latter part of June, 1895, and placed in the Lent Building. The company was handicapped from the start owing to the lack of suitable quarters, so at the annual town meeting held on the seventh day of October, 1895, it was:
Voted that an appropriation of $3500 or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby made for the purchase of a site and the erection of a building in the vicinity of the railroad station for the Fire and Hose Company, and the selectmen are hereby authorized to make such purchase and construct such building, provided the Borough of Green- wich will maintain said building and the apparatus of said fire company.
On the twenty-third day of February, 1895, the proposed plans for a truck house were submitted, and after approval the construction of the building commenced. The company moved into its new quarters on Arch Street early in August, 1896.
The fire apparatus of this company now consists of an auto chemical engine, which was received on the seventeenth day of April, 1909, hose wagon, and jumper.
THE PROTECTION ENGINE AND HOSE COMPANY. FORMERLY THE
NEW LEBANON ENGINE AND HOSE COMPANY. Incorporated, 1893. East Port Chester.
The first fire company in East Port Chester was organized on the twenty-seventh day of April, 1891, at a meeting held
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in the old schoolhouse at that place, and the names of over forty men were secured for the organization. The following officers were elected: John Boal, Foreman; James J. Nedley, Assistant Foreman; Henry Brower, Secretary; Herman Schupp, Treasurer. On the fourth day of November, 1891, it purchased a hand engine and hose carriage from Patrick Gleason, Mayor of Long Island City, which arrived at Port Chester by boat on the twentieth day of November, 1891. Through the courtesy of the Putnam Engine Company, and the Morris Hose Company, of Port Chester, the apparatus was temporarily placed in their building until the seventeenth day of December, 1891, when it was transferred to its new quarters in one of the buildings of Abendroth Brothers, opposite the foundry, on Water Street.
Milo Mead took a great deal of interest in the company and offered to deed it a lot on Mead Avenue for an engine house, provided it was called The New Lebanon Engine and Hose Company, and at a meeting held in January, 1892, this name was adopted. It was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly, approved March 29, 1893, whereby it was:
Resolved, that John Boal, James J. Nedley, John A. Lowden, Charles O. Frederick, William Dehmer, Herman Schupp and William Moller, of East Port Chester, and such other persons residing in said East Port Chester as they shall associate with them by voluntary enlistment, not exceeding one hundred in number, and their successors, are hereby incorporated as an engine and hose company, to be located in said East Port Chester, by the name of The New Lebanon Engine and Hose Company, etc.
On the failure of Milo Mead to deed the lot to the com- pany, its name was changed to The Protection Engine and Hose Company by an act of the General Assembly, ap- proved June 14, 1893.
The quarters of this company were so undesirable and inaccessible that at the annual town meeting, held on the second day of October, 1893, it was:
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Resolved, that a sum not exceeding $2500 be appro- priated for the purpose of maintaining a fire department at East Port Chester, by providing a house and suitable accom- modations for Protection Engine and Hose Company at East Port Chester, said property to remain the property of the Town of Greenwich.
The contract for the construction of an engine house was given out on the eighth day of November, 1893, and the work progressed so rapidly that on the twenty-second day of February, 1894, the company took possession of its new quarters. The new hook and ladder truck was received on the twenty-sixth day of January, 1894, and the steamer on the twenty-first day of July, 1903. The old hand engine and hose carriage were conditionally given to the Glenville Fire Company on the twenty-fifth day of July, 1903.
The fire apparatus of this company now consists of a steamer, hook and ladder truck, hose carriage, and jumper.
Officers, 1910, Joseph V. Schupp, Chief Engineer; Eugene Conway, Ist Assistant Engineer; Frank Bahringer, 2d As- sistant Engineer; Rudolph Goettel, Foreman; Chris Wag- ner, Ist Assistant Foreman; John Donalton, 2d Assistant Foreman; J. Henry Schmehl, Recording Secretary; Robert W. Schnautz, Corresponding Secretary; Henry Dehmer, Treasurer; and Henry Kahle, Steward.
MIANUS LADDER AND HOSE COMPANY. Incorporated, Aug. 18, 1903. Mianus.
A meeting for the purpose of organizing the Mianus Ladder and Hose Company was held in Newman's Hotel on the twenty-ninth day of April, 1903. Charles B. Allyn was chosen chairman and Daniel Maher, George E. Brush, and Benjamin B. Phillips were appointed a committee to prepare by-laws and make such arrangements as were necessary for a permanent organization, after which the meeting adjourned.
At an adjourned meeting, held at the same place on the
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fifth day of May, 1903, the report of the committee was accepted and the company formally organized. The follow- ing officers were then elected: Charles B. Allyn, President; Alva H. Worden, Vice-President; S. Garfield Lowden, Secre- tary; George E. Brush, Treasurer; Daniel Maher, Foreman; Clarence Boyd, Ist Assistant Foreman; Byron T. Newman, 2d Assistant Foreman; Joseph G. McComb, Sergeant.
The truck house was built by the Town of Greenwich at a cost of $2000 and formally opened on the seventh day of July, 1904.
Early in 1909, the company ordered an auto fire engine, which was delivered on the first day of August, 1909. It carries twelve men, six chemical fire extinguishers and hose, and has a speed of from fifty to sixty miles an hour. The same engine that furnishes the propelling power is shifted by a lever to the pumping apparatus, which has a capacity of 650 gallons per minute.
The fire apparatus of this company now consists of an auto engine, hook and ladder truck, and two jumpers.
Officers, 1910, Robert L. Chamberlain, President; Samuel Lowden, Vice-President; Joseph Maher, Treasurer; Warren E. Louden, Secretary; Leroy Eddy, Chief Engineer; George P. Clark, Ist Assistant Engineer; Harry J. Duff, 2d Assist- ant Engineer; George E. Brush, 3d Assistant Engineer; W. A. Wilmot, 4th Assistant Engineer; Frank W. Ferris, Foreman; Russell L. Eddy, Ist Assistant Foreman; Byron T. Newman, 2d Assistant Foreman; Stephen Selleck, Sergeant-at-Arms.
PROTECTION ENGINE COMPANY, NO. I. Glenville.
Protection Engine Company, No. I, was organized at a meeting held in the Glenville District Schoolhouse on the twentieth day of June, 1903, at which meeting the following officers were elected: Thomas J. Darsey, Chief Engineer; Andrew Pottgen, Assistant Chief Engineer; John Lowy,
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
Foreman; George Mckeever, Assistant Foreman; John Broderick, Secretary; Thomas F. Howley, Treasurer.
On the twenty-fifth day of July, 1903, The Protection Engine and Hose Company of East Port Chester condition- ally donated to this company its old hand engine and hose carriage. This old hand engine was made in 1852, and at one time was part of the fire apparatus of Long Island City. It was purchased from Mayor Gleason of Long Island City by The Protection Engine and Hose Company of East Port Chester on the fourth day of November, 1891, and is the only fire apparatus the company at Glenville has. It was first kept in Broderick's Building, but was removed to the present truck house on the first day of December, 1904, at which time the building was formally opened.
Officers, 1910, Edward J. Carroll, Chief Engineer; Joseph Donnelly, Assistant Chief Engineer; Hugh Hassen, Foreman; Percy Higgins, Assistant Foreman; George Hugby, Secre- tary; Dominick Donnelly, Treasurer.
SOUND BEACH HOSE COMPANY, NO. I. Sound Beach.
A meeting for the purpose of organizing the Sound Beach Hose Company was held at the district schoolhouse on the fourteenth day of April, 1904, principally through the efforts of W. J. Guebelle, who was the principal of the Sound Beach District School at the time. After some discussion, it was considered advisable to adjourn the meeting until the twenty- second day of April, 1904, at which adjourned meeting a committee, consisting of W. W. Scofield, George D. Carey, and Benjamin Reilly, was appointed to prepare by-laws. The next meeting was held on the twenty-ninth day of April, 1904, when the report of the above committee was accepted, and the following officers elected: George A. Shasty, Foreman; G. Nelson Palmer, Ist Assistant Foreman; Alden Flood, 2d Assistant Foreman; W. J. Guebelle, Secre- tary; George D. Carey, Treasurer.
At the meeting held on the nineteenth day of June, 1905,
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Libraries
a site for a truck house was discussed, and it was decided to accept the offer of the school district to a lot on the corner of West and Sound Beach Avenues. The lot was granted to the Town of Greenwich on condition that when it ceased to be used for the purposes of the fire company, it was to revert to the school district. The building of a truck house was com- menced, which was completed and formally opened on the sixteenth day of March, 1906.
The Gamewell fire-alarm system was installed during the month of December, 1909. The fire apparatus now consists of a truck and two jumpers.
Officers, 1910, C. D. Potter, President; Alexander J. McGauhan, Secretary; George S. Vincent, Treasurer; Charles H. Knapp, Foreman; Albert Palmer, Ist Assistant Foreman; E. J. Wickel, 2d Assistant Foreman.
COS COB FIRE COMPANY. Cos Cob.
The Cos Cob Fire Company was organized at a meeting held in the office of Palmer Brothers on the fourteenth day of January, 1909, at which meeting the following officers were elected: William Fosby, Foreman; Patrick Hughes, Ist As- sistant Foreman; William Moxley, 2d Assistant Foreman; G. E. Gieser, Secretary and Treasurer.
The fire apparatus, now consisting of a hose wagon, jumper, and hose, is housed in the barn of John Duff. The plans for a new truck house are being prepared and it is expected that the building will be ready for occupancy in the near future.
LIBRARIES.
GREENWICH LIBRARY, formerly the
GREENWICH READING ROOM AND LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. Incorporated, 1878.
The Greenwich Library is the successor in interest of an earlier enterprise in the same direction, originating about
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1805, which was called the "Town Library." The following is a copy of the subscription list and the names of the sub- scribers to the first library.
We the subscribers, fully impressed with the utility of Library Institutions, as the means of infusing in the minds of youths the principles of truth, religion and virtue, of checking that dissipation and licentiousness of conduct, which natur- ally results from ignorance and idleness, of making the period of manhood pleasant and useful, and the retirement of advancing years satisfactory and dignified,
Conceiving, therefore, that the dissemination of useful knowledge tends to reform the morals, enlighten the under- standing, refine the manner and dispose men to the support of good government and civil society, we trust that no institution will contribute more to these great and important ends, than the establishment of a Public Library upon the most liberal principles.
We, therefore, the undersigned, do agree to pay unto such person, or persons, who may be fully authorized to receive the same the sum of six dollars for each share, we may have subscribed to, which money shall be paid by two install- ments; that is to say the sum of three dollars at the time when thirty persons have subscribed to the above Public Library, and the remaining three dollars at the expiration of three months after the first payment, which money shall be appropriated to the purpose of purchasing books for the furnishing of said library, and furthermore, that after thirty persons have obligated themselves to become members thereof, a meeting shall immediately be called at some con- venient place for the purpose of choosing officers to govern and promote the institution, and also for enacting whole- some laws and regulations for the advancement and well being of the same.
Bush, Samuel,
Mead, Abraham, Mead, Zaccheus,
Mead, Ebenezer, Mead, Zenas, Davis, Silas,
Mead, Ephraim, Mead, Zophar, Peck, Charles, Walker, Timothy,
Mead, Jared, Mead, Job,
Waring, Stephen,
Mead, Noah, Mead, Peter, Willson, Nehemiah.
Mead, Richard,
Cozine, John R.,
Ferris, Nathaniel, Holmes, Reuben, Jr., Huggeford, Thomas, Husted, Peter, Jr., Lewis, Beal N.,
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Libraries
The present library was organized in 1874, and the read- ing room was first opened on the eighth day of January, 1877, on the second floor of the building on the northeast corner of Greenwich Avenue and Lewis Street. It was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly passed in 1878, whereby it was:
Resolved, that Frank Shepard, Edward Brush, Luther P. Hubbard, Myron L. Mason, Henry B. Marshall, J. M. Mor- ton, S. S. Morton, Jennie Morton, James Charles, Charles R. Treat, F, M. Holly, M.D., John Voorhis, Edward J. Wright, S. C. A. Redfield, Lila A. Manvil, Sadie Mead, Jeannette Linsley Pinneo, Mary M. Miller, Mary T. Hubbard, Carrie E. Shepard, Fred A. Hubbard, and all others who are now members of the voluntary association known as The Green- wich Reading Room and Library Association, etc., be and they hereby are constituted a body corporate and politic by the name of The Greenwich Reading Room and Library Association, etc.
In June, 1884, the library was removed to larger quarters on the second floor of the building on the southeast corner of Greenwich Avenue and Lewis Street. It remained in this building until the completion of the present library building on the easterly side of Greenwich Avenue, which is the gift of Mrs. A. A. Anderson in memory of her mother, the late Mrs. Jeremiah Milbank, into which it moved on the seventeenth day of January, 1896.
The General Assembly passed a further resolution in 1899, whereby it was:
Resolved, that Edward Brush, Nelson B. Mead, Amelia Mead, Fanny H. Jones, Thomas Ritch, Hobart B. Jacobs, John T. Perkins and Washington Choate, all of Greenwich, and such other persons as shall be associated with them, and their successors, be and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate by the name of The Greenwich Reading Room and Library Association, etc.
In 1901, a permanent endowment fund of $25,000 was raised through the generous contributions of prominent citi-
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zens of the town, which enables the officers of the association to manage it as a free reading room and library.
At the January Session of the General Assembly, 1907, the name was authorized to be changed to the Greenwich Library.
Officers, 1910, Nelson B. Mead, President; Dr. A. J. Wakeman, Vice-President; Hobart B. Jacobs, Secretary ; John T. Perkins, Treasurer; Mary M. Miller, Librarian.
PERROT MEMORIAL LIBRARY. Sound Beach.
The Perrot Memorial Library was organized in January, 1905, by several of the prominent residents of Sound Beach, and first opened on the first day of February, 1905, in a room in the district schoolhouse which had been fitted up for that purpose. The books were the gift of Annie Decamp Porter, wife of Hon. Henry Kirke Porter of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania, a great-granddaughter of John Perrot, who is said to have opened the first private school in Greenwich, Old Town, now Sound Beach, in 1766, and the library was named in his memory. The library is open Tuesday and Friday after- noons from two until five. It recently purchased a lot near the truck house and is planning to erect a building in the near future.
Officers, 1910, Wells McMaster, President; Eugene Pal- mer, Secretary; Irving Ferris, Treasurer; and Kate Mercer, Librarian.
SCHOOLS.
The first public schoolhouse in the Town of Greenwich was built in 1667, and was located near the old cemetery in the old Sound Beach School District. At a town meeting held on the fourteenth day of October, 1667, it was "agreed uppon and voted that the scoolmaster's sum for teaching scoole must be payd according to ye number of scoullars that went to scoole."
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Public Schools
As soon as the settlement in different parts of the town warranted it, additional public schools were established, so that as early as 1756 there were nine school districts in the Town of Greenwich, namely: Greenwich, Old Town; Horse- neck; Cos Cob; North Street; Pecksland; Round Hill; Quaker Ridge; Stanwich; and Glenville. These were orig- inally governed by a committee appointed by the church society, and in 1756 the Horseneck Society, now the Second Congregational Church, appointed the following committees for the public schools within that parish, viz .:
Horseneck, Dr. Amos Mead and Daniel Smith.
Cos Cob, Benjamin Treen and Epenetus Holmes.
North Street, Caleb Mead and Nathaniel Mead. Pecksland, Theophilus Peck and Isaac Howe. Round Hill, Jonathan Knapp, Jr., and Ezekiel Lockwood. Quaker Ridge, Eliphalet Mead and John Close. Glenville, No record.
Greenwich, Old Town, and Stanwich were in different parishes.
The public schoolhouse in Horseneck, now called the Meeting House School District, was first erected on the northerly side of Putnam Avenue, about midway between the Second Congregational Church and the present Sher- wood Place. In 1841 it was removed to the westerly side of Mechanic Street (now Sherwood Place), a short distance north of Putnam Avenue. It was replaced by a new building in 1853, which was abandoned in 1894, and torn down in January, 1900, the present public-school building at the corner of Greenwich Avenue and Arch Street taking its place. The old school bell is now in the tower of the Volun- teer Fire Company.
The new school building was the gift of the late Henry O. Havemeyer, and on the twenty-ninth day of November, 1909, his children created a trust fund of $27,000. The in- come from which is to be used for the maintenance of the Meeting House Public School building, which some people now call the Havemeyer School.
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
Early in 1894 an effort was made to start a night school at East Port Chester, and at a special town meeting, held on the third day of February, 1894, it was:
Resolved, that the sum of $500 (or so much thereof as may be necessary) be and the same is hereby appropriated to be paid from the treasury of this town for the maintenance of night schools for the present year.
The school districts at the time of consolidation in 1910 were:
Sound Beach,
South Stanwich,
Byram,
Mianus,
North Stanwich,
Pemberwick, P
North Mianus,
Banksville, Glenville,
Cos Cob,
Clapboard Ridge,
King Street,
North Cos Cob,
Pecksland,
Riversville,
Meeting House,
Round Hill,
North Greenwich.
North Street,
New Lebanon,
The General Assembly in 1909 passed an act providing for the consolidation of the different school districts in any town, which does not seem to be obligatory. However, the Town of Greenwich, so far as its schools were concerned, voted to consolidate the districts at the annual town meeting held on the fourth day of October, 1909. At a special town meeting held on the sixth day of June, 1910, the following school committee was elected :
Bearn, George E., Carmichael, George E.,
Lanier, Henry W., Peck, Albert C.,
Dayton, Henry,
Rossbottom, Thomas H.
.
On the first day of August, 1910, Edwin C. Andrews was engaged as superintendent of the public schools under the Consolidation Act.
HIGH SCHOOL.
At the annual town meeting, held on the third day of October, 1904, it was:
COS COB DISTRICT SCHOOLHOUSE. BUILT IN 1851.
T
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Private Schools
Resolved, that a High School be established in this town, and that Henry Dayton, John D. Barrett and James Mccutcheon be appointed a committee to report on location and cost of same, and submit plans of structure and cost of same at a special meeting to be called, and that all expenses in connection therewith be paid by the town.
The above committee reported at a special town meeting held on the eighteenth day of February, 1905, as regards location and plans for a building, which were accepted and said committee authorized to purchase a site for the Town High School, and to make the necessary contracts for the construction of a building for the Town High School along the lines indicated in their report. By an amendment, John Dayton and R. Jay Walsh were added to the foregoing High- School committee.
The High School is located at the corner of Havemeyer Place, Mason Street, and Milbank Avenue, and was opened on the first Monday of October, 1906.
THE GREENWICH ACADEMY. Incorporated, 1827. Amended, 1903.
The Greenwich Academy had its inception in a sub- scription paper circulated in 1826. The project met with so much success that it was deemed advisable to incorporate the institution, therefore a petition was forwarded to the General Assembly, which, in 1827,
Resolved, that Alvan Mead, William H. Mead, Thomas A. Mead, William Lester, Justus L. Bush, Ebenezer Mead, Darius Mead, Jr., Joseph Brush, Daniel Merritt, John Jay Tracy, Jabez Mead, Jr., Augustus Lyon, Benjamin D. Knapp and Albert Knapp, and all others who are, or shall hereafter become associated with them and their successors and assigns, be and they hereby are made, constituted and established a body corporate and politic, by the name of The Greenwich Academy, etc.
The academy was originally located on the corner of Maple and Putnam Avenues, but was removed to its present
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
site on the easterly side of Maple Avenue during the summer of 1905.
NORTH GREENWICH ACADEMY. Incorporated, 1834.
The North Greenwich Academy was created by an act of the General Assembly passed May, 1834, whereby it was:
Resolved, that Obadiah Peck, Isaac Peck, Obadiah Mead, Silas H. Mead and all others, who now are, or shall hereafter become associated with them and their successors and assigns, be and they are hereby made, constituted and established a body politic and corporate by the name of The Proprietors of the North Greenwich Academy, etc.
The academy continued in existence until about 1862, when, owing to lack of pupils, it was abandoned.
PERROT SCHOOL.
The first private school in the Town of Greenwich is said to have been opened in 1766, by John Perrot, son of James Perrot of St. Martin's in the Fields, City of Westminster, and Kingdom of Great Britain. He was born in 1728, and married in Greenwich, Feb. 15, 1764, Hannah, widow of Merryday Bostwick, and daughter of Captain Elnathan Hanford of Norwalk, Connecticut. His wife in 1773 was Hannah, widow of David Lockwood. The school was located in the old Sound Beach School District, and was continued by him until the Revolutionary War, when he "having gone over to and joined the enemy, his estate was declared forfeited and confiscated."
GRAHAM SCHOOL.
In 1833, Cornelia J. Graham and Mary E. Graham con- ducted a private school on the northerly side of Putnam Avenue immediately west of the Second Congregational Church, which is now known as the "Elms, " and is run as a boarding-house.
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HOWE'S SCHOOL.
Lewis Howe, A.M., a graduate of Yale College, born Aug. 6, 1827, acquired an interest in the Graham School, and conducted it as a school for boys, under his own name, from 1847 until his death, which occurred July 3, 1857.
HESS'S SCHOOL.
In 1857, Mrs. Hess conducted a kindergarten on Me- chanic Street, now Sherwood Place.
NEWMAN'S SCHOOL.
In 1857, Miss Elathea Newman conducted a private school at Mianus.
PECK'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS.
Harry Peck, who was born in Bethel, Connecticut, in 1818, removed to the Borough of Greenwich, in 1861, where he opened a school for boys on the northerly side of Putnam Avenue immediately west of the Second Congregational Church, formerly conducted by Mr. Howe. The school was continued until 1869, when it was temporarily closed, but it was reopened in 1872, and continued until 1881, when it was finally discontinued. Mr. Peck died in Greenwich, in April, 1887.
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