Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Greenwood hose house, Oak Street, circa 1905

Description

"The Board of Fire Engineers formed a hose company in Greenwood in September 1886 at the request of local residents, "with but little expense to the town, as apparatus was in storage and members served without pay." The 13 men of Greenwood Hose Company No. 3 were led by foreman Joseph Gilman and were equipped with one two-wheeled hose carriage with 1000' of leather hose housed in a private shed on Oak Street near Francis Avenue. The equipment was owned by the Greenwood Library Association. In 1892, the Town approved the first Greenwood station, a 20' x 30' two-story building erected by Isaac Heath on Oak Street at Francis Avenue. The Town went on to accept Greenwood Hose Company No. 3 as a part of the Wakefield Fire Department in April 1900. In 1902, the Town voted to sell its Greenwood fire station and convert the former Greenwood School building, also on Oak Street near Main Street, into a new station at a cost of $746.75. The old station and land were sold for private use. Wakefield's first permanent firefighter, James Goodhue, was hired in 1903 to work at the Greenwood station to tend the horse purchased by the Greenwood Library Association for the horse-drawn hose wagon. In 1924, the department's 1912 Webb pumping engine was moved from the Central Station to the Greenwood station. The station's name was changed from Hose No. 3 to Engine 2. The 1902 Greenwood Hose House was razed in September 1962 and a new wood- joisted masonry building was erected in its place for occupancy by the Fire Department and the Greenwood branch of the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library in 1963. During its construction, firefighters, equipment and the alarm system were housed in a small building and a section of the garage on the property of Classen Bros. Inc., a local Dodge car dealership located at 827 Main Street in Greenwood, later renumbered as 1099 Main Street." -- Text from calendar by Jayne M. D'Onofrio.

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2020

Photo courtesy of David Parr from the collection of the late Murray Young.

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts -- Middlesex (county) -- Wakefield

Date

ca. 1905

Format

image/jpeg

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Fire departments

Fire prevention

Wakefield (Mass.). Fire Department

Fire stations

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture: b & w

Extent

25 x 23 cm.