Smyrna times., 1952-08-21

HISTORY OIL
Citizens Hose Co.
In January of 1887, under au-
thority of an act of the Delaware
State Legislature, a volunteer fire
company was Incorporated in the
town of Smyrna. The twenty-six
charter members chose Samuel
Taylor as their president and B. V.
Weldon as their first chief, and
took over completely the fire-ight-
ing functions of the town, all of
which previously had been under
the jurisdiction of the Town Coun-
Gil. Shortly after Incorporation the
members chose the present name,
1.-THE Citizens Hose Company No.
l." 1t is interesting to note that
this early organization was operat-
ed on weekly dues of 2 cents per
person.
In January of 1897 the company
was reorganized, but it was not un-
til 1904 that the old hook and lad
der truck was changed from hand
power to horse power. Nineteen
years later, upon discovering, that
their charter had run out, members
reincorporated under the new law
and purchased the best available
motorized equipment, an American
LaFrance six-cylinder pumper and
hose motor car, which was supple
mented six years later with a Gus
tom-built Dodge chemical truck to
handle fires in the country.
Purchase Site For New Home
In 1923, eliminating 18 years of
planning, the company purchased
the Mcdowell property on West
Commerce Street as the most de-
sirable location for a permanent
home for the firemen and their
equipment and spent the next two
years in constructing one of the
finest buildings of it's type in the
East. In 1925 they held their first
meeting in their new home and in
the same year entertained their
friends throughout the state when
the State Volunteer Firemen's AS
sociation held their annual conven-
tion in Smyrna.
Celebrate Goth Anniversary
In 1916 the company celebrated
its 60th anniversary by buying a
custom-equipped American La
France fire truck. This year also
marked the organization of the
Citizens Hose Company Band,
which has made remarkable rec
ord in the six years since its or
ganization, becoming one of the
most popular musical groups on
the Eastern Shore. The band was
signally honored on october 4th,
1948, by being chosen as the official
band for the first days sale of the
Commemorative Postage Stamp
honoring Volunteer Firemen held
in Dover.
Greatest Fire Loss
The year 194S also brought the
greatest fire loss in the history of
the company, one of the greatest in
the history of the Peninsula, the
Wilson Cabinet Company disaster
of July 14th, when a million-dollar
blaze ragged out of control for three
hours and for a time threatened an
entire section of town. Added to
this greatest single loss was the
partial destruction of the town hall
on Christmas night, 1948, when
high winds and zero temperatures
complicated the work of controll-
ing the fire and saving the closely
adjoining buildings. The year 1948
will best be remembered for the
purchase of an 800-gallon water
wagon to make the company one of
the best-equipped on the Peninsula
and by the installation of entirely
new instantaneously opening doors
across the front of the fire-house.
These modern fully automatic
doors are operated from the driv-
ers seat of each of the fire trucks.
Annual Del-Mar-Va Convention
The year 1949 will long be re-
membered as the year the Del
Mar-Va Volunteer Firemen and