USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania in the olden time; being a collection of the memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, Vol. III > Part 44
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
" The utility of this institution soon appeared, and many more desiring to be admitted than we thought convenient for one com- pany, they were advised to form another, which was accordingly done ; and this went on, one company being formed after another, until they became so numerous as to include most of the inhabit- ants who were men of property ; and now at the time of writing this, though upward of fifty years since its establishment, that
408
Annals of Philadelphia.
which I first formed, called the Union Fire Company, still exists, though the first members are all deceased but myself and one who is older by a year than I am."
It will thus be seen, and by the " Articles of the Union Fire Company of Philadelphia, originally formed December 7, 1736," that Franklin was the founder of the first fire company, and that it was in 1736, and not 1738, as Watson states, Vol. I. 497. The following were also early members: Isaac Paschal, Philip Syme, William Rawle, Samuel Powell. The engine was most probably kept in a house in Grindstone alley, above Market street. Each member at his own cost was to provide six leather buckets and two bags of four yards of good osnaburgs or wider linen. The bags and baskets were for packing and transporting of goods. Upon the alarm of fire being given each member was to repair with half of his buckets and bags to the fire to extin- guish it and preserve the goods. Precautions were taken to pre- vent suspicious persons from carrying away goods by stationing two members at the door, and lights were to be placed in the adjoining houses, so that persons might be recognized. The number of members was restricted to thirty, and this being filled up within a year, the second company was formed, and its insti- tution dated March 1st, 1738, under the name of the Fellowship Fire Company, with thirty-five members. Its engine was located in a house on a lot on Second street near Market belonging to the Friends' Meeting. The ladder was kept under the eaves of the butchers' shambles on the south side, near to the meal-market. There were also seven ladders in various other places. The third company, the Hand-in-Hand, was formed March 1st, 1742, with forty members; the fourth company, the Heart-in-Hand, February 22d, 1743, with forty members ; the fifth company, the Friendship, July 30th, 1747, with forty members; the sixth company, the Britannia, about 1750 or 1751 ; but little is known of this company, and it is probable it was disbanded in pre- Revolutionary times on account of its name. Of the other com- panies, a return was made in 1791 of the condition of their engines, buckets, ladders, bags, baskets, and hauses or hose; of the latter the Union had eighty feet, and the Friendship one hundred and twenty feet. Each of the companies had an engine imported from England, and the Friendship had two; the latter had also two hundred and forty buckets, or more than either of the others except the Union. Fortunately, the number of fires was not great ; the largest conflagration was of Hamilton's build- ings at the Drawbridge, consisting of several stores filled with produce, etc.
In 1768, Richard Mason, "living at the upper end of Second street," made fire-engines. He was the first to introduce levers at the ends instead of at the sides of the engine. He made a fourth-class one for the Northern Liberty Company in October,
409
Fires and Fire-Engines.
and a number of others up to 1801. Philip Mason also built several engines between 1797 and 1801. Samuel Briggs also built two between 1791 and 1796, but they were not successful.
In 1770 the Sun Fire Company applied to the board to permit their engine to stand in one of the new houses at the east end of the stalls to the eastward of the court-house; which was granted.
The before-mentioned builders were superseded by the cele- brated Patrick Lyon. About 1794 he invented an improved engine, which he claimed would throw more water and with greater force than any other. He does not, however, seem to have accomplished much until 1803, when he made machines for the Philadelphia and Goodwill. After these he built a number as late as 1824, when he built the Reliance. The "Old Dili- gent," made by him, maintained its usefulness and celebrity until the introduction of steam fire-engines.
In 1809 the Philadelphia Hose Company determined to build a combined engine and hose, which was finally completed after the designs of James Sellers, an ingenious member, in 1814. It carried the hose on two cylinders, but was too heavy. This was superseded in 1817 by the Hydraulion, a style of machine which was adopted by several other companies.
Perkins & Jones built an engine for the Harmony in 1816 on the plan of Joseph M. Trueman. Sellers & Pennock built a few engines between 1820 and 1827, and Joel Bates between 1827 and 1840. Merrick & Agnew, Perkins & Bacon, and John Ag- new were also celebrated makers. The latter was the most noted until the introduction of steam fire-engines, of which the first was built in London by Mr. Braithwaite in 1830. In 1841, Mr. Hodges of New York built one for the associated insurance com- panies, and in 1853, A. B. Latta of Cincinnati built the first one that might be said to be practical and not too heavy.
An act passed by the Assembly in 1731 prohibited coopers and bakers from plying their trades in shops unless built of brick or stone, with a large chimney within them, and various other pre- cautions added. Fines for violation of the precautions were to be devoted to purchasing fire-buckets and engines. Haystacks were not allowed within one hundred feet of any building, nor a larger number of fagots than two hundred.
In 1736 another great fire occurred, in which several houses in " Budd's Long Row," Front street near the Drawbridge, were much injured. This fire gave rise to the Union Fire Company, established Dec. 7, 1736. With this and the other companies that started soon after commenced the volunteer fire system of Philadelphia.
The Hibernia, whose constitution was adopted February 20, 1752, required each member to have two leathern buckets, two bags, and a large wicker basket with two handles, all marked with his name and that of the company, and kept ready at hand.
35
410
Annals of Philadelphia.
They imported a new engine in 1758, which was placed in a house they built at the corner of Walnut and Second streets. This company was incorporated Sept. 20, 1841, and they put into service a first-class steam fire-engine Dec. 30, 1858. The Harmony Fire Company was instituted August 24, 1784, and incorporated in 1848.
A mutual assurance company against fire was established March 25, 1752, and incorporated by the Provincial Assembly February 20, 1768, by the title of "The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire," now generally known by the name of "Hand-in-Hand," and having had its office in Fourth street below Walnut for many years. A similar company was formed October 21, 1784, and incorporated by the General Assembly February 27, 1786, by the name of " The Mutual As- surance Company for Insuring Houses from Loss by Fire," now generally known as the "Green Tree," from its permitting trees to be planted before houses without any additional premium.
By a print representing the burning of Zion Lutheran Church, at the corner of Fourth and Cherry streets, December 26, 1794, three of the small engines of that day appear to have been in ser- vice, and were filled by means of buckets. The full buckets were passed to the engine by men, and the empty ones returned to the pump-lines by women. The yellow fever of the last dec- ade of the eighteenth century, which cut off a large number of the inhabitants, was the means of introducing the Schuylkill water by means of steam-power. In 1815 the steam-works at Fairmount were put into operation ; in 1819 iron mains and pipes were substituted for the original wooden ones ; and in July, 1822, the dam and works at Fairmount were completed and the whole operated by water-power. These works, with their capacious reservoirs and large water-wheels and turbines, have been steadily increased and improved.
By the year 1818 water had become abundant, and serviceable hose had increased to such an extent that the use of fire-buckets was discontinued, and they became degraded to other uses and worn out, and then disappeared, save a few which are now ex- hibited as curiosities. A few "bucket companies," it is true, were organized, but hose competition soon caused them to dwindle out of existence. Even ladders and hooks disappeared, leaving in use only engines and hose-carriages. In 1851 the Empire Hook and Ladder Company was established, the want of these implements being felt, and other such companies have since been established.
Hose, as first used in England, was a woven cylindrical web of hemp or linen, whence probably its name. It was first made of thick sewed leather by the Van der Heides of Amsterdam in 1672, who also probably first constructed the air-chamber fire-en- gine and the suction hose of sailcloth made water-tight by cement.
411
Fires and Fire Engines.
Their engines were introduced into England shortly after their invention, and the one sent to this country bore date of 1698, and was finally stored at Bethlehem. Though antique in con- struction, its principle was the same as in the later hand-engines.
In Germany hose was made in 1720 of hemp without seams, and afterward of linen. When it was first used or made in Eng- land is not known. In Hogarth's two pictures of The Times, published in 1762, the modern appliances of hose, coupling, bucket, and engine are fully depicted. In this country the Penn- sylvania Gazette of March 24, 1772, speaks of the German hose or " water-snakes."
An association was formed by the hose companies, called the Fire Hose Association of Philadelphia, in 1813. The objects sought to be gained were the erection of a tribunal to determine disputes between the hose companies and to establish for them a certain and permanent support. Failing in these objects, the asso- ciation was dissolved in 1817, though a new one was formed the same year of both hose and engine companies, and entitled the Fire Association of Philadelphia. It was governed by a board consisting of two delegates from each company, elected annually, and who elected a president, secretary, and treasurer from their own body. In 1818 they entered into the business of insurance, and the delegates elected thirteen trustees to carry on the busi- ness, for which they obtained a charter March 27, 1820, and were incorporated by the name of "The Trustees of the Fire Associ- ation of Philadelphia." June 5, 1820, the Harmony Engine Company was admitted a member. No dividend was to be made until the capital stock amounted to $100,000, and no company was to be entitled to a dividend which did not, in the opinion of the board of delegates, possess a complete apparatus for the ex- tinguishment of fires. Each member of the companies in the association could effect insurances at five per cent. less premium than non-members, and the association could grant relief to any of the associated companies in need of it. Thus was organized a company to maintain the efficiency of the fire department, and the capital stock in reality consisted of the property and active ser- vices of every company belonging to the association ; therefore each company pledged its faith to maintain a suitable apparatus and to contribute its full share to the protection and insurances of the Fire Association. They held also that no company had any claims upon the profits or share in the association that went out of active service, nor had they any right to sell their privileges, but that all reverted to the companies that remained and carried out the provisions of their charter.
The city on Aug. 2, 1811, appropriated annually thereafter to the fire hose and engine companies $1500, to be distributed by the Watering Committee. This was increased in 1813 to $2000; in 1823 to $4000; in 1828 to $5000; in 1833 to $7000; in 1835
412
Annals of Philadelphia.
to $8100; and in 1839 to $9000. In 1840, Councils, on account of violations of the peace, appropriated $8700 to the Committee on Legacies and Trusts to distribute among the companies, but not more than $300 to any one company, and they were to inspect all apparatus.
The disorders still increasing, Councils passed an ordinance Jan. 4, 1844, which divided the city and districts into three fire dis- tricts. It regulated the passing of the companies out of their respective districts, the attaching and supplying water at fires and the use of the fire-plugs, the age and number of active members, and the quantity of hose to be carried by each hose and engine company, and prohibited stationary alarm-bells. Companies were to make annual returns of their condition, number of fires attended, names and number of members. Minors could not be elected ; no hose company should have more than fifty members, and no engine company more than sixty members. Each company had to select one member of a board of engineers, who had supervision of all companies at fires. If any of these provisions were violated, the company was deprived of its appropriation ; for a second offence to be excluded from the use of the fire-plugs; for a subsequent offence to be fined $100.
The appropriations from 1845 to 1853 varied from $6000 to $7800, exclusive of special appropriations for damages done in the great fire of 1850. March 7, 1848, the Legislature gave the Court of Quarter Sessions special jurisdiction over riotous fire companies in the city and districts, with authority to put them out of service, and even to disband them.
On the 2d of February, 1854, the Legislature erected the whole county of Philadelphia into one great municipal corporation called the "City of Philadelphia." Its superficial area is 129g square miles, or about 82,701 acres, and its length is 23 miles, with an average breadth of 52 miles. By this act of consolidation Coun- cils were directed to organize a police department, with privilege of a fire department subordinate to or independent of that of the police, and ample power to make all laws for their regulation. An ordinance was therefore passed Jan. 30, 1855, to reorganize the fire department, to consist of such regularly-organized engine, hose, and hook-and-ladder companies as shall comply with its provisions. The officers were to be a chief engineer, seven assist- ants-one for each district-and one director for each company possessed of the apparatus provided for. By supplements in 1856-57 the lines of the seven districts were changed and were thrown into five divisions, and the assistant engineers were re- duced to five, one for each division. The engineer and assistants were elected every two years by the companies. Each hose com- pany was required to have 800 feet of good hose on a four-wheeled carriage ; each engine company to have a good engine and carry 300 feet of hose ; and each hook-and-ladder company to carry 125
413
Fires and Fire-Engines.
feet of ladders and the necessary hooks and axes ; no appropria- tion to be paid unless the apparatus was in good order and had performed active service for nine months of the year. Hose and hook-and-ladder companies were limited to thirty active members, and engine companies to fifty.
Since the passage of the ordinance of 1855 an entire change has taken place in the fire department by the introduction of steam-power. In five years' time, or in 1860, there were 43 engines, of which 21 were steam, 42 hose, and 4 hook-and- ladder companies-an aggregate of 89, with 67,938 feet of good hose-of which 48 were attached to the Fire Association and 41 in active service outside of the association.
At the present time the fire department is under the control of a chief engineer and five assistants, with a force of 389 men and 123 horses ; there are 32 companies at 13 fire-stations, 27 steam fire-engines, 5 special steam-engines, 4 hand-engines and hose- carriages, 5 hook-and-ladder trucks, 6 fuel-wagons, 50,000 feet of rubber and linen hose, and over 5000 fire-plugs. The horses, men, and engines are kept ready to go in service on the tap of the fire-alarm telegraph. The admirable force forms the most effective and powerful fire organization that exists, as is evi- denced by the few fires we now have, and the still fewer large ones, and small rate of loss. The paid fire department came into existence March 15th, 1871. The last parade of volunteer firemen took place Oct. 16, 1865.
THE PHILADELPHIA HOSE COMPANY.
On December 15, 1803, the first hose company established in the city, the Philadelphia Hose Company, was organized. Its history is interesting. It was the pioneer in a wide field of public good. It was originated by some of our best citizens, young men between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one, all of them members, or descendants of members, of the Society of Friends. The first meeting was held December 15, 1803, at the house of Reuben Haines, No. 4 Bank (now Lodge) street, adjoin- ing the old Pennsylvania Bank, at that time a fashionable neigh- borhood. Although hose was used before for a limited end and of imperfect construction, the idea of applying a far different ar- ticle to an almost if not entirely new object belongs to this first combination of young men. Hose had been introduced in 1794 by the Humane Fire Company, and the completion of the Centre Square Waterworks led to a general adoption of hose before this time. There were present-Reuben Haines, Roberts Vaux, Jo- seph Parker, Samuel N. Lewis, Abraham L. Pennock, William Morrison, Joseph Warner, William Morris.
The second and third meetings were held on the 16th and 19th of December, at which time Charles E. Smith, Joseph Lea,
35 *
414
Annals of Philadelphia.
Samuel Hazard, John R. Hall, and John Wheeler took their seats. S. N. Lewis and A. L. Pennock resigned.
The following are short biographies of the originators :
Reuben Haines was an apprentice (so called at that time) in the store of Garrigues & Marshall, dry-goods merchants. Of an active mind and temperament, devoting his leisure to some useful object or acquiring scientific knowledge, his after-life was spent in elegant retirement at Germantown, occupied only in works of be- nevolence or learning.
Roberts Vaux has left to his native city a character which is identified with almost every useful public object. Educated a merchant, he early gave up business and spent his days in con- stant efforts for the improvement of his fellow-man. The histo- ries of the public institutions of Philadelphia, many of which he originated, are his best biography. He died Jan. 7, 1836.
Joseph Parker was educated in mercantile pursuits. He was active, ardent, impulsive, and kind-hearted. Esteeming the calls of charity as imperatively demanding his personal attention, he was ever the friend of the unfortunate.
Samuel N. Lewis was educated, lived, and died a merchant. With his brother Mordecai the firm was long extensively known as M. & S. N. Lewis, merchants of high repute, and for many years manufacturers of white lead. They were old-fashioned merchants, gentlemen of the purest character, most admirable manners, and highest respectability. Samuel N. Lewis was born in 1785, commenced business with his brother in 1806, and continued in the firm in the same locality until his death in 1841.
Abraham L. Pennock, engaged at one period in making leather hose with rivets, was in business with Samuel J. Robbins, another active, valuable, and early member of the Hose Company, and for many years its president, treasurer, and secretary. After the firm separated it became Pennock & Sellers, and was well known for high character and probity. Mr. Pennock retired to the coun- try, and peaceably closed an exemplary life.
William Morrison, a most amiable and exemplary man, enjoyed the luxury of doing good. For many years the partner of Mor- decai L. Dawson, one of our most benevolent and useful citizens, in the brewing of malt liquors, they built up a high reputation for their manufacture and their upright dealing.
Joseph Warner bore a character beyond reproach for sterling qualities of mind and heart and the most practical and enlarged benevolence. He was actively engaged in business. He died November, 1859.
William Morris, trained for the life of a merchant, was singularly kind and agreeable in his manners and character, but died in a Southern climate in early manhood, deeply re- gretted.
415
Fires and Fire-Engines.
Samuel Hazard, trained for a merchant in Robert Ralston's counting-house, early in life made several voyages as supercargo to the Mediterranean and the West Indies. Settled in Philadel- phia as a commission merchant, and afterward in Huntsville, Alabama. On his return to his native city his strong love for let- ters induced him to publish The Register of Pennsylvania, 16 vols .; The United States Commercial and Statistical Register, 6 vols .; The Annals of Pennsylvania, 1 vol. ; The Colonial Records, 16 vols., and The Archives of Pennsylvania, 12 vols .; The Index to the latter two in 1 vol .- altogether more than fifty large volumes- and numerous pamphlets. An active member and officer of the Presbyterian Church, librarian of the Historical Society, and officer of many societies, he was born in 1784, and died at the ripe age of eighty-six in 1870.
EXTRACTS FROM AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY RICHARD VAUX Before the Philadelphia Hose Company, on the completion of the new hall, Seventh street, December 16th, 1850.
" Let us imagine for a moment, in those early times, the alarm of 'fire' given on 'First-Day,' when, out of each pent-roof door in Front and Second streets, and perhaps as high up town as Fifth street, in Arch and Market and Chestnut streets, the quiet Quaker in his plain, neat First-Day suit, his broad brim, his breeches and buckle shoes and yarn stockings, with three or four of these fire- buckets on either arm, proceeding in an excited gait to the nearest pump to stand in line to pass on the water, working with a con- viction that it was doing unto others as he would be done by ; and after Neighbor A's roof had been rid of the fire, returning home with his buckets on his arms, with soaked shoes and muddy stock- ings, conscious that he had performed a voluntary task, made light by the knowledge that he was one of the many in like con- dition. The picture is a faithful one. He was the first of that noble band known as the Philadelphia firemen. The necessity for a prompt supply of buckets induced a bucket company to be established. The first consisted of about twenty young men, who agreed to unite for the purpose of prompt delivery of these arti- cles. They obtained a kind of box or crate on wheels, on which the few buckets they could collect were placed, and thus proceeded quickly to the aid of the engines. At their first turnout the number was very limited, but tradition, if nothing more reliable, hints that on their return the capital of the company was greatly augmented, for all the buckets that could be found were safely deposited in the machine, and the night was spent by the young ones in quietly painting out the names of the owners and mark- ing them with the title of the association. This may not inaptly be regarded as the germ of the first hose company.
"Even this contrivance was at last required to yield to more
416
Annals of Philadelphia.
urgent necessity. New and improved appliances became an ob- vious duty. Several large fires had occurred, and one in Sansom street brought conviction home to the minds of many of the active youth of that time that some mode must be devised to furnish a full supply of water in order to stay the desolation of conflagra- tion. To the founders of the Philadelphia Hose Company be- long the praise and honor of suggesting and effectuating this most benevolent and public-spirited purpose. Animated with the views and sentiments already referred to, ten young men agreed to associate for the formation of an institution benevolent in its design and useful in its effects-an association the arduous duties of which were self-imposed for general good.
" They discussed the objects of their meeting, proposed plans, made all their arrangements for the regular formation of a com- pany, and went to work, young, enthusiastic, hopeful, and success- fully. It is worthy of remark that they were all under age. They required four hundred feet of hose and screws, estimated at two hundred dollars; a 'machine' for the hose to be carried in, to cost fifty dollars ; a hose-house, at an expense of one hundred dollars. The money was to be raised. A committee on address to the citizens was appointed, and, as is not unfrequent now, that committee was required to collect subscriptions. Tradition whis- pers that some amusing incidents occurred to this committee of ways and means; they visited the noted people of that day. Among the number was a worthy lady whose large income it was reported bore no just relation to her limited wants. She lived in Arch street near Front, in an old-fashioned house with its pent roof, door divided horizontally, with its huge brass knocker beautifully polished, two soapstone steps, and the benches on either side of the door. A few of the like still remain at this time, specimens of architecture in keeping with the habits and manners of early days. The committee, after sounding the alarm, canvassed the character of the lady, her resources, her oddities, and speculated as to the amount of the donation they would receive. Waiting, and thus conversing, and, as it seems, overheard, the upper half of the door opened, and the owner, with her arms resting on the lower division, still shut, asked in a sharp tone, 'What was wanted ?' Taken by surprise, the committee began a history of the object which induced them to call on her, its great advantages to the public, and explained the mode intended for the use of the appa- ratus ; her sternness continued during the detail, and when finished she remarked, 'So, boys, you think you know all about my busi- ness, do you ? Well, as to the money, here is my mite; but I just tell you out plain I don't want you to come squirting your waterworks about my house; and besides, let me give you some advice, and that is to let other folks' business alone.' Her sim- plicity and liberality were about alike; she gave them liberally of money and admonition, and they went away. The citizens
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.