Fire Truck

By Susan Zehnder, Education Director

In 1923, the clang of a brass bell and the wail of a hand-pumped siren alerted people that a fire truck was on the way. Our current exhibit, “It’s About Time: 100 years of Chemung County Historical Society” features a 1923 American LaFrance Brockway Torpedo Fire Truck which could have been seen on the streets in the early 20^th century. After being beautifully restored, it was donated to the historical society in 2011. It has become a popular artifact. For this exhibit, the fire truck is displayed in the gallery against a large picture of East Water Street from the 1920s. You can almost imagine it racing through the city streets to the scene of a fire.

Back in the 19^th century, the city had speed restrictions. When responding to a fire, engines were limited to no more than 6 miles per hour in order to prevent accidents. The city also ordered fire companies not to compete with each other, which was harder to enforce.

Competition seems to have been part of firefighting culture. Fires were always a constant danger when many buildings were still being constructed out of wood. In the mid-19^th century, a fire on Water Street burned down 18 wooden buildings. It destroyed property, homes, businesses and livelihoods. Another fire in 1866, called the Lake Street fire, burned most of the buildings between Water and Carroll Streets. The fire companies did their best to contain them.

During much of the 19^th century, firefighting was the responsibility of individual volunteer fire companies. They sprang up all around the city and had spirited names like Ours 4, Neptune, Goodell, and Young American. Not far from today’s museum was the Red Rover fire company, situated just across the street..

It was prestigious to be appointed a firefighter and the volunteer work attracted young men looking for adventure. The men were also drawn to the pageantry, parades, social affairs, and dances associated with the culture of firefighting. When a fire broke out, companies competed to be first to respond.

In the spring of 1878, the city council voted to establish a professional fire department, calling it the Elmira Fire Department (EFD.) The various volunteer companies would not be recognized. Reluctantly, the volunteer fire companies participated in one final parade to celebrate their hard work before they handed over their engines, hoses, hooks, ladders and other equipment to city authorities. Some fire company members ended up taking jobs with EFD and were now paid $100 a year. The department’s new headquarters were located on Market Street in a brick building which no longer exists.

The American LaFrance Company, manufacturer of our Fire Truck on display, began in the mid-19^th century. The young fire equipment company attracted local investors like Alexander Diven, his sons, Judge Brooks, Charles J. Langdon, John T. Rathbun, and Colonel William Falck who saw potential in the young company. American LaFrance soon became known as one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of fire engines and apparatus in the country.

Apparently not just the country, but the world. Early American LaFrance fire trucks were built using chassis from the Brockway Truck Company, located in Cortland, New York. There’s a great story about a 1925 American LaFrance fire truck from Argentina. In 1960, Buenos Aires Fire Department volunteers decided it was time to trade in their fire truck and drove it from South America to North American ending up in New York City. The volunteer firefighters, who were a butcher, locksmith, building engineer, and chauffeur, didn’t realize that Cortland was still miles away. Volunteer fire companies along their way provided them with shelter, food, and gasoline. When the news got to the Brockway Truck Company, they drove down to the City and escorted the firefighters to Cortland before shipping them back to Argentina along with a new fire truck.

Headline, The Morning Call, May 15, 1960

This year CCHS installed exhibits on fire fighters in four of the local public schools. Along with borrowed items (not in use) kindly lent to us by the Elmira Fire Department, these displays highlight some firefighting equipment and clothing.

Drop by to see our red shiny 1923 fire truck on display. You can hear its siren and bell by accessing a QR code in the exhibit and imagine yourself scurrying out of the way as it makes its way to a fire.

Other blogs on fire fighters include a profile of Elmira’s first Black Firefighter.

https://chemungcountyhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/2021/02/elmiras-first-black-firefighter.html

And a blog on the earlier bucket brigades.

https://chemungcountyhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/2017/03/we-work-for-glory.html

 

Elmira's First Black Firefighter

 By Susan Zehnder, Education Director

In 2007, Thomas J. Reid, Jr. was interviewed about his status as Elmira’s first Black firefighter. His reply that “I suppose I was a trailblazer…” reflects only part of his story. He was born in 1923 to Viola and Thomas J. Reid Sr. The family had two daughters and would add a second son a few years later.

Reid Sr. was a World War I veteran, and the family lived on Elmira’s Eastside. After returning from the war, he worked driving trucks for Remington Rand. Reid Jr. attended Elmira Free Academy, where in addition to his studies he lettered in varsity football, basketball and track. He graduated from EFA in 1941. His standout sports achievements earned him an athletic scholarship to Lincoln University, the nation’s first historically Black college and university, located in Pennsylvania. At Lincoln he played both football and basketball and majored in physical education.

It was wartime and just a year into his college career he was inducted into the Army. He left for boot camp, however due to a previous sports injury, he was honorably discharged one month later and returned to Lincoln University. Sometime before 1945 he married Wilhelmina Woods, a nursing student from Tennessee. She went on to pursue graduate studies in nursing at Syracuse University. The couple had a daughter and settled in Elmira. Over the next few years, they had two more children.

In 1950 Thomas J. Reid, Jr. joined the Elmira Fire Department, he was the first African American firefighter hired by the department. Wilhelmina worked for the County Health Department as a public health nurse. She also taught health classes and served on the Board at the Neighborhood House. In the fall of 1963 Wilhelmina died leaving her widowed husband with three young children to raise. Reid remarried in 1965 to Marjorie, a widow with three young children of her own. Marjorie worked at Iszard’s Department Store.

While he was with the Fire Department, Reid received two commendations. In 1961 he was credited with saving a woman’s life, carrying her out of a burning building. During the rescue he suffered smoke inhalation and was hospitalized. In 1965 he was named Fireman of the Year for rescuing an elderly man who had fallen asleep while smoking. This rescue was intense, and he and another firefighter suffered severe smoke inhalation.

Star Gazette photo

After 35 years of service, Reid retired from the Elmira Fire Department in 1985. It would be fifteen years before the second African American firefighter was hired.

Whether or not he was influenced by his father’s work driving trucks for a living, Reid was always interested in anything with wheels. That fascination was part of the reason that in addition to firefighting, he was a successful inventor. He enjoyed creating things with wheels.

One of his early inventions was for a sled wagon with front and rear steering capable of turning 360 degrees. He received US and Canadian patents for this vehicle he called the Cen Ten Ion 200.

Another invention he received a patent for was an inline skate:

Patent drawing for inline skate

The skate had front and back wheels in addition to two center wheels.

After he retired from the Fire Department, he invented a scooter bicycle, seen here and modeled by his wife Marjorie. It was produced for many years by a bicycle manufacturer in Pennsylvania.

Star Gazette photo

One of the last inventions Reid came up with, he built himself in the early 2000s. It was a one-of-a-kind bike designed to accommodate riders of two different heights. He and Marjorie often rode it around town.

Thomas and Marjorie were married for forty-six years before he died in 2012 at the age of 89.  Marjorie died six years later in late 2018.

Thomas J. Reid, Jr. was a man with various talents: an elected member of Elmira’s Sports Hall of Fame, the first Black Fire Fighter in Elmira, and a successful inventor holding multiple patents.

For more about the family read our blog The Reids of Elmira, and listen to Wilbur Reid’s interview archived as part of our Black Oral History project.

 

Elmira’s Fire Stations

by Erin Doane, Curator

The first volunteer fire company in Elmira was created in 1830. Over the next 30 years, half a dozen more companies were organized and each company established their own fire houses. In 1867, the city built a new, large fire station on Market Street. The station housed Torrent Fire Company No.1 and Fire Company No. 2, known as Neptune Company. When the city created a professional fire department in 1878, the station became its headquarters.

Elmira Volunteer Fire Station on Market Street, c. 1870s

In 1890, the station was torn down and a new central fire station was built on East Market Street opposite Exchange Place. The new building cost $33,000 to construct, or just under $1 million in today’s dollars. The station housed firefighters and their equipment, including steamers, hose wagons, a ladder truck, a chemical engine, and ten horses.

Central Fire Station, c. 1911

In 1964, the Fire Department’s headquarters was moved to a new building at 101 West Second Street. This was the city’s first new fire station built in 52 years.

Elmira Fire Headquarters, April 2019

Shortly after the Central Fire Station was built in 1890, more stations were established throughout the city. In 1892, Station No. 2 was built at the foot of College Avenue on West Water Street. The station closed in 1935 and the building now houses the Elmira Water Board.

Station No. 2, c. 1910

Station No. 3 was also built in 1892 at the western intersection of South Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Station No. 3, c. 1900

The station was torn down in 1979 when a new one was built on West Miller Street.

New Station No. 3, April 2019

Station No. 4 was built at Maxwell Place and Grand Central Avenue in 1897 on land given to the city by the Diven Family. It was designed by local architects Pierce and Bickford. The station closed in 1986 and in 2014, the building was added to the Preservation League of New York State’s Seven to Save Endangered Properties list.

Station No. 4, March 1897

In 1911, Station No. 5 was built on Roe Avenue. It is still being used today and is the oldest active fire station in Chemung County.

  

Station No. 5, 2017

“Chief Ross” and the Elmira Fire Department

by Erin Doane, Curator

While doing research for the exhibit To the Rescue: Early Firefighters in Elmira, I came across a note about a man called “Chief Ross.” A file containing reminiscences of firefighters in the early 20^th century included the story of a local character who made daily rounds visiting all the fire stations in the city. Chief Ross was described as “a simple, trusting soul with a retarded mentality but a faithful desire to please others.” He adored the firemen, lived meagerly, and died of pneumonia. His funeral was attended by a platoon of off-duty firefighters in full uniform and he was buried in the Exempt Firemen’s plot in Woodlawn Cemetery.

The short reminiscence gave a very brief account of this man’s life but I wanted to know more. In so many cases like this it is difficult, if not impossible, to find more information. Imagine my surprise when I found a newspaper article about Chief Ross and then a photograph of him as I continued my research in our archives. An online search of newspapers uncovered a half dozen more articles. While I still have a lot of questions about Chief Ross’s life and death, these articles provided far more information than I had expected to find.

"Chief Ross" wearing some of his many medals in 1907

Charles Owens was Chief Ross’s actual name. In 1926, Elmira fire chief John H. Espey told the Star-Gazette how Owens had come to be known as “Chief Ross.” “The only way I can figure it out is that Owen greatly resembled the lost Charley Ross, kidnapped in the ‘70s and never found. Although never a fireman, he bossed the department and told the boys just what to do, and when they didn’t do it, he threw off his coat and entered the thick of the fight with them. So they called him Chief Ross and the name stuck.”

Chief Ross started following the activities of the Elmira fire department at an early age. He visited the stations regularly and helped out whenever he could at the stations and at the scenes of fires. During the Lyceum Theater fire on March 8, 1904, which burned most of a block on Lake Street between Carroll and Market Streets, he hurried to assist the firefighters when asked while other men simply stood and watched. A newspaper report about the fire declared that Chief Ross was “a rough sort of fellow and possibly don’t know why it is that radium cures cancer, but he has just enough of that fool-hardy valor to make him of much use on such occasions.”

In another instance, when the department was still using horse-drawn equipment, Chief Ross stepped in to lend a hand. It was a cold winter night and three homes were on fire. The driver of one of the engines could not manages the horse so Chief Ross took the reins. He was able to calm the rearing horse and got the engine to the fire in record time. When he drove through Eldridge Park on the way, the horses were going so fast that they could not be slowed down to go under the railroad. Thinking quickly, he turned them and ran around the lake instead.

While Chief Ross never took a salary as a firefighter, he was a fixture in the department. He was at nearly every fire in the city and had a wonderfully retentive memory for facts and figures related to the conflagrations. Over the years, he also amassed a remarkable collection of firefighting badges, medals, and pins which he wore on a vest. One particularly large badge was made from the boiler plate of a steamer fire engine. It was reported that he wore his “18 pounds of medals” when he attended the firemen’s convention at Hornell in July 1909. The Star-Gazette reported that “‘Chief Ross’ will be one of the characters of the convention. He expects to open the new fire station and expects that he will be the grand marshal of the parade. He will also, he expects, respond to the address of welcome and will bow to the right and left when a chorus of 600 children sing ‘We Welcome You, O Chief.’”

Newspaper articles about the “Chief” were often written in a playful, or one may say, patronizing tone. For example, when he was found drunk at West Church and Davis Streets in April 1916, it was reported that “he was arrested for having taken on too big a cargo of fire water.” He appeared before the judge wearing a “big badge, the gift of No. 5 station firemen” and his sentence was suspended. While most people, including the firefighters and reporters, were quite fond of Chief Ross, it seemed that others would put him down and picked on him because of his lower mental capacity. During the Lyceum Fire mentioned before, the reporter noticed that among the gathered crowd of onlookers “there were a lot of men and boys who were doing all they could to amuse themselves at the chief’s expense.” Even the firefighters themselves would sometimes make him the butt of their jokes. In the original reminiscence that introduced me to Chief Ross, a firefighter stated that they were not unkind to him but they “would have a little fun” with him at times.

In June 1926, while visiting fire station No. 2, Chief Ross fell ill. The firefighters helped him to the bunk room to rest but he got worse. They then took him to the hospital and found that he had a severe case of pneumonia. On June 21, he died at the county farm in Breesport. The firefighters immediately started a fund to raise money for a fitting burial. Chief Espey, Commissioner Leonard Whittier, George Remer, and nearly every off-duty firefighter in the city attended the funeral while six firemen served as pallbearers. After devoting nearly 45 years of his life to the Elmira Fire Department, Chief Ross, Charles Owens, was laid to rest in the Elmira Exempt Fire Association’s plot in Woodlawn Cemetery. His headstone is inscribed: Member of Paid Department.

Elmira Exempt Fire Association plot in Woodlawn Cemetery

We Work for Glory

By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

Around 8:30pm on the evening of May 7, 1878, the band played a solemn death march as Elmira’s volunteer firefighters paraded for the last time.  The city council had voted to discontinue the 48-year tradition of volunteer fire companies in favor of a paid department.  As they marched, the members of Elmira Hose No. 1 carried a sign which read “Shoot the Paid Fire Department—Too Thin! We Worked for Glory, They Work for Pay - $100 a Year.” The parade began at the Hose Tower and was supposed to make an orderly loop of downtown, but dissolved into chaos instead when it began to pour.

In November of 1830, the Village of Elmira Board of Trustees appointed 30 men to serve as the village’s unpaid firemen. These early firemen fought fires with bucket brigades until May 1834, when the village purchased an old goose-neck fire engine. The village firefighters re-christened themselves Torrent Fire Company No. 1. Using their new engine’s hand-pump to draw water directly from the river or canal, they could blast water at the fire for as long as their strength held out.  They used this pumper until the city bought them a steam-powered fire engine in 1864.

Example of a period hand-pump fire engine, 1848

The volunteer firefighters did more than just douse flames. They were also an important part of Elmira’s social scene. Elmira’s volunteer fire company’s participated in an annual 4^th of July parade and held water pumping competitions. Most firefighters were young and physically fit. They hosted dance parties and were some of the most eligible bachelors in town. Even after they retired from firefighting, if they had served five years, they were exempt from jury duty and certain municipal taxes.

Fire engine barn used by Companies No. 1 & 2, ca. 1870s

Between 1834 and 1878, there were over a dozen volunteer fire companies founded in Elmira. Some of my favorites include:

-         Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 used their ladders to rescue people and their hooks to tear down buildings in order to create fire breaks. They were formed in 1844, but disbanded in a snit in 1846 after being snubbed in the 4^th of July parade. They reformed in 1849.

Invitation to the Hook & Ladder Ball at Eagle Tavern, November 12, 1845.

-         Young America Company No. 4 (1854-1863) consisted entirely of teenage boys. In 1855, they won a pumping competition at the New York State Fair and were presented with a silk banner made for them by the young ladies of Elmira. Most of the members ended up joining the army during the Civil War.

-         Ours 4 Hose Company (1868-1872) had a reputation as a bunch of dandies. Their fire station not only housed their fire engine, but also served as a club house with a gaming parlor and reading room. They were so good at firefighting that other companies decided to adopt their decadent ways.

Decadent dandies of Our 4 Hose Company, 1868

-         Independent Hose No. 3 (1866-1878) operated out of a fire station on the Southside at the foot of the Lake Street Bridge. I don’t know much about these guys but I love them, if only because some of their members actually posed for the photo below. 

How can you not love these dorks from Independent Hose No. 3?

The Tragic Story of Peggy the Dog Heroine

By Kelli Huggins, Education Coordinator

At 3:15 a.m. on January 30, 1946, a fire swept through an apartment building at 107 College Avenue in Elmira. Peggy, a 4 ½-month-old collie puppy, woke her owner, Mrs. Davitt, when smoke began to fill their apartment. Mr. Davitt called the fire department and rushed to alert the other tenants. He carried Peggy under his arm through the smoke to safety. Because of Peggy, all nine people in the building escaped and the firefighters were able to contain the blaze. 

Peggy was treated for minor injuries at the Blostein Animal Hospital at 2046 Lake Street. A photograph of her and her doctors was taken by the press. Peggy was praised as a heroine in the local newspaper.

Press photo of Peggy receiving treatment at the veterinarian's office

Sadly, the next week, on February 4, Peggy was hit by a car and died. She had been staying with her displaced family in the Town of Veteran. The Elmira Star-Gazette said she was a “victim of another form of danger which she was too young to understand.” The Davitts didn’t blame the driver for the accident and recalled their brief time with her fondly. They had purchased her immediately after seeing her in a store window.

The 4 ½-month-old puppy was buried with some of her beloved toys on a hill near Sullivanville. The Davitts wanted to have a plot of land around her grave deeded in Peggy’s name, but this likely never happened.    

The Reids of Elmira

by Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

When young John came to Elmira around 1840, he was being pursued by a man who was both his owner and his father.  He found shelter in the hayloft of William Reid, livery stable owner and abolitionist.  It turned out John was quite a hand with the horses so Reid not only offered him a job, but a new last name to make him harder to track down.  John Reid’s original last name has since been lost to time, but the generations of descendants born and raised here have done just fine with the borrowed one.

Unfortunately, not all that much is known about John Reid’s life in Elmira.  He worked as a hostler, someone who manages horses, and raised a family on Dickinson Street.  At the time Dickinson was at the heart of the city’s African American community.  It was also home to a number of poor, white immigrant groups as well.  John and his wife had a number of children one of whom, James, continued to live in the area and work as a laborer. 

Photographic pillowcase with picture of James Reid

James had a son, Thomas, who served in the Navy during World War I on the troop ship USS Leviathan.  After the war, he married Vila Elcha and held a number of jobs in Elmira including clerk at the American Bridge Company, Deputy Sheriff and delivery driver for Remington Rand.  He was an active member of the Elmira branch of the NAACP and served on the Mayor’s Commission on Human Relations. 

Thomas had four children; Jennie, Sarah, Thomas Jr. and Wilbur.  Sarah eventually married and settled in Corning, but her other siblings remained in Elmira.  Jennie attended the Elmira Business College and, during World War II, took the Civil Service exam to work as an elevator operator at City Hall, one of the few jobs for which a black woman could apply at the time.  She also volunteered with the Women’s Ambulance & Defense Corps where she learned first aid, among other things.  After the war, her job was taken by a returning veteran so she put her medical skills to use, first as an x-ray technician at Arnot Ogden Hospital and then later with the Visiting Nurses’ Association.

Jenny Dunmyer and the WADC

The two brothers, Thomas Jr. and Wilbur, both helped to break down racial barriers within the city.  Although there had been a black police officer on the force in the 1870s, none had been permitted to apply since his retirement in 1888.  In 1947, the local NAACP filed a petition to allow blacks to take the civil service exams for the police and fire departments.  In 1950, Thomas Reid Jr. became the first African American to serve in the Elmira Fire Department.  He worked there until his retirement in 1985 and took up inventing a series of skates and scooters in his spare time.  Wilbur, meanwhile, joined the Elmira Police Department in 1953.  He left in 1959 to pursue a career as a medical technician, but helped open the way for other black officers.