USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Lancaster > History of Lancaster, New Hampshire > Part 58
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
Defoe's History of the Plague.
For a number of years Mr. Rix conducted a bookstore in connec- tion with his newspaper business, and carried a large stock of good books.
In 1860 a "Reading Circle " was organized in Lancaster, and began to collect books with a view of establishing a library. In a short time a good circulating library was in operation. An enter- tainment was given in the town hall, Nov. 27, 1860, to raise money for that purpose.
This library grew steadily in number of books and in favor in the community, so that in seven years the idea of a public library had gained so much favor that steps were taken to bring it about. An organization was effected. Hon. William Heywood was the first president of the library association, and Dr. George O. Rogers, at whose office the library was kept, was its first librarian. There were then but 554 volumes in it, 66 of which had been contributed by the older society, the Reading Circle; 140 were donated by inter- ested individuals, and the remainder purchased from funds of the association. After a three years' sojourn with Dr. Rogers, the library was moved into a room furnished and fitted up for the pur- pose in Parker J. Noyes's drug store. A catalogue of the books was prepared and published. It only remained one year in this location, when it was removed again to Dr. Rogers's office, where it remained for a time, and after several other moves was located in a room in the Kent building, Mar. 29, 1876, from which it was moved in 1884 to its present location, in what was the old academy build- ing for many years, on the south side of Centennial park, Main street.
At the annual town-meeting of 1884, the library association offered to give their books to the town on condition that the
521
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
town maintain a public library free to all its citizens. This condi- tion they met very cheerfully, and agreed to appropriate four hun- dred dollars a year for its proper maintenance. A board of trustees was elected and given the custody and management of the library. The first trustees were J. I. Williams, Frank D. Hutchins, Geo. P. Rowell, I. W. Drew, and Emily Rowell.
Geo. P. Rowell gave the use of the old academy building free for a term of five years on condition that the sum of five hundred dol- lars be raised by popular subscription. This condition the citizens very generously met by promptly raising that sum. Mr. Rowell also provided at his own expense a catalogue of the library at the time. This catalogue was of 140 pages, containing about 3,000 titles. This first catalogue of the public library was prepared by Rev. J. B. Morrison, minister of the Unitarian church, and Mrs. Philip Carpenter, the librarian. The library was thrown open to the public July 29, 1884. Since that time it has enjoyed a healthy and continuous growth, reaching close to 6,500 volumes at present, besides many pamphlets and public documents.
In 1895 the town bought the land on which the building stands. It now has the use of the whole amount of the appropriation of $400 per year, as the town remitted the rent at the annual meeting in March, 1896.
At the annual town-meeting of 1895 an appropriation of $500 was voted for the preparation and publication of a new catalogue of the library.
The work of catalogueing the books is now complete at the hands of Mrs. Sarah J. Williams, Mrs. M. A. Hastings, Miss Hawthorne, and a suitable catalogue has been published.
The present board of trustees is I. W. Drew, Geo. P. Rowell, J. I. Williams, F. D. Hutchins, and Mrs. M. A. Hastings; Mrs. Sarah J. Williams, librarian.
The library is much used, and is one of the most helpful institu- tions of the town.
THE READING-ROOMS.
During the spring of 1889, several ladies connected with the Women's Christian Temperance Union opened reading-rooms with a gymnasium connected in the north rooms of the town hall build- ing now occupied by Flanders's fruit store. Chief among the pro- moters of the enterprise were Mrs. M. A. Hastings, Mrs. C. A. Howe, and Mrs. Sarah W. Brown. These ladies secured funds enough on a subscription to meet the expenses of the rooms, about $350 a year. The rooms were well patronized from the start, especially the gymnasium. After a time, however, the privileges of that depart- ment were abused and it was closed. After the first year of the
522
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
experiment it was seen to be a matter of considerable importance in the way of furnishing a place of resort for idle boys and young men who profited considerably by its services, and several men brought the matter before the town at the annual town-meeting of 1890, and secured an appropriation of $100 toward the expense. This amount was given by the town for four years, after which it was increased to $150, and next to $200, until at the town-meeting in March, 1896, when the town assumed the entire expense, and appointed a committee consisting of Mrs. M. A. Hastings, Mrs. C. A. Howe, and Merrill Shurtleff, to have charge and manage the rooms as a town institution.
In 1892 the rooms were moved to their present location in the south side of the town hall building. At that time a young people's friendship temperance club was organized, and assisted financially to the amount of $50 in fitting up the rooms, after which the club declined, and is not in existence. After the gymnasium had been given up a boys' brotherhood was organized and conducted by Rev. C. A. Young, minister of the Unitarian church, for some time; but this is not now existing.
The rooms have been used by the Woman's Christian Temper- ance Union always, as well as for other purposes, except evenings, when it is open to the public. That organization has, until the present year, 1896, raised nearly two hundred dollars for the support of the rooms by soliciting subscriptions, and by serving dinners at town-meetings and sociables. The rooms are generously supplied with literature of a great variety-newspapers, magazines, illustrated papers, and books. They are also arranged for, and supplied with, a variety of games. A large number of boys and young men are constant visitors.
After the periodical literature has done its full service in the rooms it is taken either to the jail, or to the lumber camps in winter and does service over again until worn out. The influence of the institution is thus widened. It is not conducted as a charitable or a reformatory concern, but as a public institution designed to meet a real want in the life of the village. It has had for a number of years the services of Thomas D. Carbee for janitor and custodian. Mr. Carbee has taken a generous and kindly interest in the patrons of the rooms, and through a firm but kind discipline has managed them well.
It is hoped that the time is not far distant when the public library and the reading-rooms will be properly housed in one suitable building with the arrangements and conveniences required for such institutions .*
* This hope has been fulfilled by the removal in 1899 of the "reading-room " to the library building.
1
+
523
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
CHAPTER XV.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Until 1834 neither the town nor the village had any means of protecting property from the ravages of fire, except the simple one of pouring water upon it by means of pails. In that year a petition was signed by a goodly number of persons asking the town to take action toward adopting and defining portions of an act of the legis- lature of March 22, 1828, with respect to the duties of fire wards, and others in certain cases. The selectmen, in compliance with the wishes of the petitioners, called a special town-meeting on July 4, 1834. The meeting took favorable action on the petition, and appointed the following named men as fire wards: David Burnside, Warren Porter, Harvey Adams, Turner Stephenson, John Wilson, Royal Joyslin, Benjamin Stephenson, and Ephraim Cross.
Since that time the list of fire wards has always been full, and has included among its members the most substantial business men of the village, until the village was incorporated as a special fire pre- cinct, since which time a different organization has obtained.
Under the old system the village managed to protect itself against fires with very good success for more than twenty years. During the greater portion of that time a rotary hand engine was used with satisfactory results, as most of the houses were only one story, or one and a half stories high, with very rarely a two-story building. Under the directions of the fire wards a volunteer company did effi- cient service, in return for which they were exempt from duty on "muster days," jury duty, etc.
About 1850 taller and more valuable buildings began to be erected, and a growing demand for more adequate fire protection resulted in the organization of a new fire company in accordance with the laws of the state, which had become much improved with respect to the matter of protecting property from fire.
In 1853 the town voted an appropriation of $200 for the purchase of a fire engine, on condition that enough more be raised by sub- scription to make the purchase of a satisfactory engine. Not until 1857 was this measure carried out. At that time citizens had sub- scribed enough money to secure the best apparatus then in use. A committee consisting of David Burnside and Perry W. Pollard was appointed to make the purchase of the desired engine. They bought one for four hundred dollars, which was in use a long time. It was named the Ætna. This engine gave very good satisfaction. In the following year, 1858, the old volunteer fire company gave place to one " organized according to law." This company was known as the " Lancaster Fire Engine company." Its organization
524
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
was perfected March 27, 1858, by the adoption of a constitution and an elaborate set of by-laws for its government. There were forty-five members, with the following officers: Ist foreman, David B. Allison; 2d foreman, Anderson J. Marshall; Ist leading hose, Webster M. Rines; 2d leading hose, O. E. Freeman; Ist suction hose, Perry W. Pollard; 2d suction hose, J. G. Derby; treasurer, Charles B. Allen ; clerk, Henry O. Kent; board of directors, D. B. Allison, J. G. Derby, P. W. Pollard, Gilman Colby, W. W. Hatch.
At the annual town-meeting in March, 1863, the town voted to adopt chapter III of the Revised Statutes, which defines the duties and authority of fire wards. At that time it was found that the water supply was insufficient to meet possible demands upon it, and a reservoir system was adopted and built by a committee consisting of R. P. Kent, Jared I. Williams, and E. B. Bennett. Towards this enterprise citizens subscribed the sum of three hundred dollars, the town meeting the rest of the expenses. This system was reasonably satisfactory for some years, until larger amounts of water were neces- sary to effectually fight fire.
In 1865, at a special town-meeting, called January 18, the sum of one thousand dollars was voted for the purchase of a better fire en- gine. E. B. Bennett, E. R. Kent, and J. I. Williams were appointed a committee to make the purchase. They bought a second-hand one in Boston that had done duty at Lynn, Mass., for the sum of $891. This engine was named the Lafayette. It did good work in the hands of a trained company, and saved much valuable property to its owners, the town feeling a just pride in it.
In 1878 the town appropriated the sum of eight hundred dollars for the purchase of a force pump, to be placed under the grist-mill, to fill the reservoirs in case of fires. This measure was not carried out until 1885, when it was attached to a hydrant system.
In 1890 the town voted to pay any " company, corporation, or village precinct that will construct sufficient fire hydrants of fifty pounds pressure to the square inch, one thousand dollars."
At a special meeting Oct. 6, 1891, the town voted to organize a fire precinct, "under chapter 107 of the General Laws of New Hamp- shire." The old fire company was retained in force as Lafayette Fire company.
Since Sept. 7, 1891, the village fire precinct has been a distinct civil or municipal body, holding its own elections, and providing for. its own government under the laws of the state. At an adjourned meeting, Oct. 6, 1891, a committee consisting of E. R. Kent, N. H. Richardson, J. L. Moore, W. E. Bullard, and V. V. Whitney, was appointed to confer with the Lancaster Water company, a corpora- ation then constructing a system of water-works in the village, as to the cost of a competent hydrant system, and the number and loca-
.
525
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
tion of hydrants sufficient to serve the demands of the village for fire purposes. At another adjourned meeting, held October 20 of that year, this committee recommended an agreement with the Lancas- ter Water company, by which the company was to provide a system of water-works, with a reservoir of 2,000,000 gallons' ca- pacity, with a twelve-inch main to Middle street along Main street, with a pressure of not less than eighty pounds to the square inch, and fifty-eight hydrants, at an annual rental of thirty-five dollars per hydrant, and three water-cart hydrants free of cost, and also two streams of water for public water troughs, and to supply water to families for domestic use at eight dollars per year, provided that the precinct rent the hydrants for a period of five years. This company also agreed to sell its system to the precinct at any time prior to 1897, at the cost of its construction with ten per-cent. bonus and interest at six per cent. on the cost of construction less the net earnings of the company.
At that meeting this proposal was accepted by the precinct, and a board of fire wards was elected, consisting of E. R. Kent, W. E. Bullard, W. L. Rowell, J. L. Moore, and K. B. Fletcher, with in- structions to conclude the agreement recommended by the previous committee.
This board organized by the election of the following officers : E. R. Kent, chief engineer; W. E. Bullard, W. L. Rowell, J. L. Moore, and K. B. Fletcher, assistant engineers.
Three hose companies and one hook and ladder company were formed as follows :
E. R. Kent Hose Company, No. 1 .- George Congdon, fore- man; Fred. W. Streeter, assistant foreman; Thomas Powers and W. B. Wilson, hosemen; W. E. Ingerson and C. A. Root, in charge of hydrants; F. Smith and Fred Streeter, executive committee ; W. H. McCarten, secretary and treasurer.
Etna Hose Company, No. 2 .- J. M. Monahan, foreman; M. McHugh, assistant foreman; Thomas Sullivan, clerk and treasurer.
Lafayette Hose Company, No. 3 .- L. B. Porter, foreman; H. S. Webb, assistant foreman; H. Bailey, A. Pierce, hosemen; H. H. Noyes, clerk and treasurer.
A. M. Bullard Hook and Ladder Company, No. 4 .- L. H. Parker, foreman; F. D. Peabody, assistant foreman; H. A. Keir and C. W. Brown, executive committee; B. M. Leavenworth, clerk ; Fred B. Spaulding, treasurer.
A new and commodious fire department station was fitted up by Frank Smith & Co. in a building of theirs on Middle street, where the several companies have their headquarters, and the apparatus is stored. The second floor of the building affords a large hall in which companies hold their meetings. The first floor is devoted to
526
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
the storage of trucks, hose carts, and other appliances. The build- ing has connected with it a tower for drying hose. Fire alarms are sounded upon a gong connected with the engines of Frank Smith & Co.'s mills and electric light plant .*
One hose cart and hose is stationed on Main street, just above the Boston & Maine railroad crossing for use in emergencies in the north end of the village, while another hose cart and four hundred feet of hose are stored on Winter street for use in the Baker hill section of the village.
All the apparatus is of the most improved kind, and the compa- nies are faithful in the use of it whenever danger calls them out. Few villages of its size has so good a fire protection. With its pres- ent organization, its boundless supply of water from the system which the precinct now owns, having purchased the water-works of the Lancaster Water company, property is in very little danger from fire.
THE VETERAN FIREMEN'S ASSOCIATION.
For more than fifty years Lancaster has had some kind of organ- ized fire protection. Nearly every man connected with the business interests of the village has, at times, belonged to some of those organizations. The surviving members of the several companies of the past and present organized a Veteran Firemen's Association at a meeting called for that purpose on June 4, 1896, with the fol- lowing list of officers :
John G. Derby, president; Henry O. Kent, Frank Smith, Edward R. Kent, vice-presidents; Loring B. Porter, secretary ; Erastus V. Cobleigh, treasurer ; W. H. Thompson, A. G. Wilson, L. H. Parker, M. Monahan, M. Vashon, directors; E. R. Kent, L. H. Parker, Vernon Smith, E. R. Stuart, committee on by-laws.
The first fire engine was what was termed a rotary engine. The water was poured into the tub by a line of men (and at fires, wo- men) leading to the place of supply, while another line, facing the first, passed back the empty buckets. The machine was worked by cranks, with polished iron arms extending, when in place, eight feet each side of the tub, and capable of engaging, perhaps, twenty men at a relief.
The house of this engine was at the northwest corner of the inn yard of the Coös hotel, next beyond the coach shed and alongside the garden, about where the rear of the livery stable on Canal street now is. The original rotary engine was dismembered, the pump connected with the machinery of Williams's machine shop and set
* A complete fire alarm system by districts was established in 1899, with about a dozen stations, the alarm bells being that upon the Congregational church and one placed upon the roof of the Masonic Temple or Town Hall building.
527
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
in the basement as a force pump. It was destroyed by the fire that consumed that building.
The Ætna, the strong but crude machine bought by David Burn- side and Perry W. Pollard in 1857 at St. Johnsbury, was housed temporarily in convenient sheds until the winter of that year, when Henry O. Kent and John G. Derby secured contributions of mate- rials, labor and a little money, and built the engine-house now in ruins, standing just east of the grist-mill. Ætna engine had this until the Hunneman tub, "Lafayette," was purchased in 1864, when an engine-room and hall was finished off for the Ætna in rear of Frank Smith's block on Main street, where the north end of Eagle block now is, and which was burned in the great fire of 1878. Ætna was thereafter housed " under the arch," in comfortable quarters in the town hall building, until the era of the new fire department and erec- tion of the present commodious headquarters, when it was sent out to Grange Village, where it now is. "Lafayette" remains for special service ; but modern hydrants, hose companies, and hook and lad- der companies have supplanted the old firemen who " run wid der machine," or used the ponderous " fire hooks," of which a speci- men still exists at the old headquarters.
The date of the organization of a fire department is from the erec- tion of the engine-house in 1888, and the establishing of quarters for two engines. From that date the fire wards, or their successors, the fire engineers, assumed command, placing engines and directing operations at fires. Edward R. Kent is easily the "Nestor " of the department, having served as fire ward and engineer for twenty-four years.
PERSONS WHO HAVE HELD THE OFFICE OF FIRE WARDS SINCE 1835, TO THE ADOPTION OF THE FIRE PRECINCT IN 1892.
1835. David Burnside, Warren Porter, Harvey Adams, Turner Stephenson, John Wilson, Royal Joyslin, Benjamin Stephenson, Ephraim Cross.
1836. John Wilson, Warren Porter, Benjamin Stephenson, Ephraim Cross, Joseph C. Cady, Royal Joyslin, Harvey Adams, Levi F. Randlett.
1837. David Burnside, Warren Porter, Benjamin Stephenson, John Wilson, Ephraim Cross, Harvey Adams, Apollos Perkins, John S. Wells.
1838. Royal Joyslin, Harvey Adams, Joseph C. Cady, Benjamin Stephenson, Warren Porter, John Wilson, Ephraim Cross, Noyes S. Dennison.
1839. John Wilson, John S. Wells, Benjamin Stephenson, War- ren Porter, Harvey Adams, David Burnside, Ephraim Cross, Royal Joyslin.
528
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
1840. John S. Wells, John Wilson, Benjamin Stephenson, War- ren Porter, Harvey Adams, David Burnside, Ephraim Cross, Royal Joyslin.
1841. Amos Balch, Royal Joyslin, David Burnside, John Wil- son, Ephraim Cross, John S. Wells, Benjamin Stephenson, Warren Porter.
1842. Warren Porter, Ephraim Cross, Harvey Adams, David Burnside, John Wilson, Royal Joyslin, Joseph C. Cady, John S. Wells.
1843. Joseph C. Cady, Ephraim Cross, John Wilson, David Burnside, Harvey Adams, Benjamin Stephenson, John S. Wells, Warren Porter.
1844. Warren Porter, John S. Wells, Ephraim Cross, Samuel Rines, Oliver W. Baker, David Burnside, Richard P. Kent, Reuben Stephenson, Harvey Adams.
1845. Ephraim Cross, Joseph C. Cady, Harvey Adams, James H. Hall, Royal Joyslin, Warren Porter, Samuel Rines.
1846. Harvey Adams, Joseph C. Cady, Reuben Stephenson, Ephraim Cross, Royal Joyslin, George F. Hartwell, James W. Weeks.
1847. Ephraim Cross, Harvey Adams, Reuben Stephenson, Albro L. Robinson, Royal Joyslin, George F. Hartwell, James W. Weeks.
1848. Ephraim Cross, Harvey Adams, Joseph C. Cady, Samuel Rines, Hazen C. Walker, Charles B. Allen, Jacob Benton, Charles S. Palmer.
1849. Harvey Adams, Jonathan Hovey, Lucius M. Rosebrooks, Jacob Benton, Richard P. Kent.
1850. Jonathan Hovey, Lucius M. Rosebrooks, Jacob Benton, Richard P. Kent.
1851. John Lindsey, Webster M. Rines, Edwin F. Eastman, William Burns, Reuben Stephenson, Hosea Gray, George C. Wil- liams.
1852. John Lindsey, Harvey Adams, John W. Lovejoy, Horace F. Holton, George C. Williams.
1853. Anderson J. Marshall, David Burnside, John Lindsey, Royal Joyslin, Hazen C. Walker, Turner Stephenson.
1854. Richard P. Kent, John W. Lovejoy, Horace F. Holton, William Burns, Robert Sawyer, Frederick Fisk.
1855. Perry W. Pollard, Webster M. Rines, Robert Sawyer, Richard P. Kent, David Burnside, James A. Smith.
1856. John G. Derby, Richard P. Kent, John Lindsey, Enoch L. Colby, George Bellows, Frederick Fisk, George C. Williams.
1857. Jacob Benton, David Burnside, Samuel Rines, Richard P. Kent, John Lindsey, Perry W. Pollard. It seems that the $200
529
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
that was voted by the town in 1853, had laid in the hands of the selectmen. This year by a vote of the town it was paid over to the Engine Co.
1858. Henry O. Kent, Anderson J. Marshall, George A. Cos- sitt, David Burnside, John Lindsey, Ephraim Cross, John G. Derby, Richard P. Kent.
1859. Henry O. Kent, Anderson J. Marshall, David A. Burn- side, John Lindsey, Charles B. Allen, John G. Derby, Richard P. Kent.
I860. Richard P. Kent, Anderson J. Marshall, David A. Burn- side, John Lindsey, Jared I. Williams, Harvey Adams, Hartford Sweet, John H. Hopkinson.
1861. Anderson J. Marshall, John H. Hopkinson, George A. Cossitt, Hartford Sweet, Oliver Nutter, Enoch L. Colby, John Lind- sey, Kimball B. Fletcher.
I 862. Anderson J. Marshall, John H. Hopkinson, George A. Cossitt, Hartford Sweet, Oliver Nutter, Enoch L. Colby, Kimball B. Fletcher.
1863. Anderson J. Marshall, John H. Hopkinson, George A. Cossitt, David A. Burnside, John Lindsey, Ephraim Cross, John G. Derby, Richard P. Kent.
1864. John H. Hopkinson, Anderson J. Marshall, George A. Cossitt, Hosea Grey, Hartford Sweet, Enoch L. Colby.
1865. Anderson J. Marshall, John H. Hopkinson, George A. Cossitt, Hosea Grey, Hartford Sweet, Enoch L. Colby, Frank Smith.
1866. Anderson J. Marshall, George A. Cossitt, Hartford Sweet, Henry O. Kent, Enoch L. Colby, Hosea Grey, John H. Hopkinson, Kimball B. Fletcher.
1867. Henry O. Kent, Enoch L. Colby, Hosea Grey, John H. Hopkinson, Kimball B. Fletcher, Hartford Sweet, George A. Cos- sitt, Anderson J. Marshall.
1868. Henry O. Kent, Enoch L. Colby, Hosea Grey, John H. Hopkinson, Kimball B. Fletcher, Hartford Sweet, George A. Cos- sitt, Anderson J. Marshall.
1869. Henry O. Kent, Charles W. Smith, Ariel M. Bullard, Anderson J. Marshall, George A. Cossitt, Daniel Thompson, Kim- ball B. Fletcher, Orville E. Freeman, John H. Hopkinson.
1870. Henry O. Kent, George A. Cossitt, Anderson J. Mar- shall, Orville E. Freeman, Charles W. Smith, Edmund Brown, John H. Hopkinson.
1871. Henry O. Kent, Anderson J. Marshall, George A. Cos- sitt, Charles W. Smith, John H. Hopkinson, Kimball B. Fletcher, Hosea Grey.
1872. Charles W. Smith, Henry Porter, Frank Smith, Erastus
34
530
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
V. Cobleigh, Charles E. Allen, George H. Emerson, Edward R. Kent.
1873. Charles W. Smith, Erastus V. Cobleigh, Edward R. Kent, Charles E. Allen, Henry H. Porter, Frank Smith, George H. Emer- son.
1874. Erastus V. Cobleigh, Edward R. Kent, Charles E. Allen, Henry H. Porter, Frank Smith, George H. Emerson, Ariel M. Bullard.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.