Early History of Hook and Ladder Co.

ADAMSON, AXTELL, BAILEY, BAKER, BALMER, BENNETT, COOK, COTTON, CROSBY, DAVIDSON, DENNIS, DIMAN, DUBAUS, FISHER, GRANT, GRIFFIN, HARVEY, HELPHREY, HIGBY, HINSDALE, HOGAN, HOWARD, HUNTER, HYATT, INGHRAM, LAMBERT, LATTIMER, LEWIS, LOWERY, MANN, MATTBY, MCGRIFF, MCKEEVER, MCKINLEY, MEREDITH, MITCHELL, MOYER, NELSON, NICHOLS, PARSLEY, PEIRSON, RASMUSSEN, ROBINSON, ROGERS, RYAN, SATTLEE, SHIELDS SKOW, SPAIN, SPENCER, SPOHN

Posted By: JCGS Volunteer
Date: 2/15/2020 at 14:27:22

The original Hook and Ladder Co., in this city was organized in the spring of 1874.
At the preliminary meeting of citizens March 18 at the offices of E. W. Mitchell, Capt. J. H. Tait was chairman and Daniel Mattby was secretary, S. J. Moyer was appointed chairman of a committee to draft rules.
The second evening following they all met again. Rules and bylaws were adopted and the following officers elected:
Col. D. Ryan, pres.
S. J. Moyer, vice-pres.
C. P. Axtell, secy.
T. M. Hyatt, treas.

At the regular meeting on April 7th following D. M. Mattby was elected foreman and Col. D. Ryan first ass’t. foreman.
The original company included:
C. P. Axtell
Grant Townsend
E. A. Thornton
J. Y. Bailey
J. L. Hunter
C. M. Hinsdale
E. Trahern
K. Stahl
Gaines Fisher
S. C. Cook
Geo. B. Hogan
A. H. Howard
M. Peirson
Joseph Stevens
F. M. Spain
F. M. Youte
W. L. DuBaus
James Parsley
S. J. Moyer
A. Robinson
W. G. Mann
R. McKinley
Thos. Dennis
M. A. McKinley
W. H. Griffin
E. Bennett
Some of these men are here now but if you should ask them about the organization of the Hook and Ladder Co., very few of them could tell you that it was thirty-nine years ago this month.
They could tell you, however, that the first Hook and Ladder truck was a homemade affair and that the truck the fire laddies are using now was bought four or five years later and it was in use when Peter Helphrey, the present fire chief, joined the company thirty-two years ago next April-in 1881. And, by the way, Mr. Helphrey, in point of service, is the oldest member of the company.
Those were the days when every member of the company wore a helmet at a fire. The boys paid their own expenses and their own fines and when they gave an entertainment or received a contribution the money went into the treasury.
One of the charter members said: “We paid our own expenses, boarded ourselves and bought our own tobacco”
The homemade truck was too much for them, it was so heavy and hard to handle and one night after a fire they (accidentally) run it off into the ditch and damaged it beyond repair and a new up-to-date one for those days was bought soon after.
The members of the present organization are:
Peter Helphrey
Asa Meredith
H. S. Spencer
Hans Rasmussen
Frank Baker
Geo. Stickle
D. Stamper
Orval Lowery
J. M. Davidson
W. H. Higby
E. E. Lambert
J. P. Nelson
B. E. Sattlee
F. L. Rogers
L. Spohn
G. C. Wheeler
Wm. McKeever
Joe Steffen
S. C. Balmer
Thos. Balmer
T. S. Dennis
J. H. Wallace
A. A. Adamson
M. L. Lewis
S. F. Shields
J. O. Nichols
George Tharp
J. E. Diman
W. J. Crosby
Floyd Grant
Fred Lattimer
Tom Inghram
J. H. Cotton
E. L. Harvey
Will McGriff
Irving Skow
All of the boys except Messrs. Cotton, Harvey, Davidson, McGriff, Skow and Lewis were in the picture taken Sunday morning.
Source: Newton Journal; Wednesday, March 12, 1913, page 1