Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Veteran Firemen's Association :Crescent Street, opposite Mechanic Street, circa 1890s

Description

Wakefield's Veteran Firemen's Association appears to have been among the most active of the veteran firemen's organizations in the Commonwealth in the late 1890s. Comprised of "old-time firemen," the members of the association took part in numerous balls, parades, and competitions organized by the New England States Veterans Firemen's League in the 1880s and 1890s. The Veteran Firemen's Association was organized in January 1889 with 45 charter members. Early officers included President W.A. Cutter, Vice President E.H. Walton, Secretary George Weston, Treasurer E.E. Whiton, and Foreman Alexander Flanders. The April 1889 Town Meeting approved the use and custody of the Yale Engine No. 1 to the group, later selling it to them for $1 in November 1891, with the condition that the hand tub be kept in good condition for use at all fires, and "subject to duty whenever required by the Fire Engineers of Wakefield." The engine could not be sold without the consent of the Town and would revert back to the Town when the company disbanded. During one outing in Boston in September 1892, the Wakefield group was among more than 3,000 uniformed members representing 25 companies and 23 engines, some of which were hailed as the "best in the nation." The competitions included engine tests with Wakefield's Yale Engine coming in third with a horizontal stream of 205', 2.75". The Yale, named after noted citizen and benefactor Burrage Yale, was destroyed in a fire at the Central Fire Station in 1899. the association participated in the Town's 250th anniversary celebration in 1894, which may be the occasion for the photograph. Note the Yale name on the belt buckles.

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2021

Photo courtesy of David Parr and 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. 1890s

Format

image/jpeg

Language

eng

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Fire departments

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture :black and white

Extent

32 x 16 cm.