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In the colorful days
when volunteer fire companies were in their infancy, there was
much rivalry among the men of the different companies. When the
Bryn Mawr Fire Company began to operate in 1904, there were
three other companies in operation in the township; Merion,
Narberth and Union of Bala-Cynwyd. They met soon after and
divided the area into four sections. The first fire engine that
the new company acquired was a No. 4 Metropolitan steam fire
engine, which was delivered in 1904. It was kept in the coach
house on the estate of Samuel Vauclain until a one-story frame
building was erected next to where the fire house is now and
where the Bryn Mawr Hardware Store is now situated. Soon after,
a new Holloway chemical engine carrying 400 feet of chemical
hose, 1,000 feet of the highest standard quality hose, ladders
and hand extinguishers was purchased. Besides supplying the
first home for the engine, Samuel Vauclain also contributed a
makeshift fire-gong. Since he was president of the Baldwin
Locomotive Works, he managed to get a locomotive tire, which was
suspended, outside of the firehouse. Jackson Epright, the
blacksmith, rigged up a big sledge hammer which operated by
tugging a rope, and when the alarm was sounded, its loud peal
could be heard all over the countryside.
Each year,
beginning in 1903, a Fireman's Fair and Bazaar was held to raise
funds. Their aim was $10,000 for capital expenditures and $2,500
annually for maintenance. A hall was hired and there was music,
lemonade and entertainment. They had prizes, a shooting gallery,
a wheel of fortune and other extracts from Coney Island. At one
of these fairs, the net profit was usually around $2,000. They
held picnics in the summer, the Bryn Mawr Brass Band which
originated way back in 1869, gave concerts and there were
baseball games. Even with all these money-raising schemes,
$10,000 was due on a first mortgage and $4,300 on a second
mortgage when the building was dedicated in May 1906. Vauclain,
Johnson, Converse, Clarkson Clothier or any of the other charter
members could have easily taken care of the finances, but that
was not the idea. Everybody in the area pitched in and helped.
One group got together and purchased a bell from the old Humane
Fire Company of Philadelphia, which weighed 956 pounds. It was
hung in the tower. The women baked cakes and sold raffle
tickets. Another group raised the horse fund of $810. For the
first year they had rented their horses from John Moore's livery
stable on Merion Avenue, or from the Bryn Mawr Ice Company.
Then the fire
company bought its own horses. The first two were a gray pair
named Dick and Is, after Dick Fogarty, who was a dealer in
livestock, and giant Israel H. Supplee, the first fire chief,
who was reported to have been over six and one-half feet tall.
Everyone was pitching in and doing all that they could for the
cause. Harry Kerr was no exception. He was foreman of the paint
shop at J.J. Durham's carriage works. As a voluntary
contribution, he offered to repaint the steamer and the chemical
wagon without charge. One day a committee made up of charter
members called on Kerr at the carriage works just as he was
mixing a batch of green paint to be used on one of the coaches.
They all admired this particular shade and it was suggested that
the engines be painted that color. Right then and there it was
agreed upon and to this day the engines are green, along with
gold for the lettering and the striping. After they had their
own horses, they arranged the equipment for the fastest possible
takeoff. Three sets of harnesses were kept suspended above the
two poles of the steamer and two sets above the one pole of the
chemical wagon. When the alarm was sounded, the horses trotted
from their stalls to their respective places, the sets of
harnesses were dropped over their heads and put on them
securely, the steamer boiler was fired and the engines were
ready to leave.
When
automotive engines first came into being but it was still more
practical to use the old standby - the horse. The motorized
engines had to be hand-cranked and were slow to start. They
often broke down on the way to fires too. Horses, however, were
quick to respond to the alarm, quick to fall into place to be
hitched and made good time on the roads that were not paved.
There was also a bond of friendship between the horses and the
firemen. Even as early as 1904, there were fire hydrants, though
not many. Thus, the need for the chemical wagon was
recognizable, since many of the houses were not near a hydrant
or any other water supply. The first test for the Metropolitan
steam engine after its purchase was on January 16, 1904, at
Montgomery Avenue and Roberts Road. In seven minutes, the pumper
had reached the necessary 230 pounds of pressure needed to
produce steam. The steamer got its real first test at a fire in
Ardmore, when flames spread through a handsome three-story
house. At the time, the Merion Fire Company was all attired in
tails and silk hats at a banquet. When they arrived at the
scene, it was plain to see that little could be done to save the
place. They phoned to Bryn Mawr for help. When the Bryn Mawr
Fire Company arrived the building was lit like a torch and
obviously hopeless to be saved. However, the firemen from Bryn
Mawr did help save the surrounding houses of the neighborhood,
which were in some danger of being ignited by flying embers.
That was the first time that Ardmore and Bryn Mawr worked
together at a fire, and to this day they are still doing it when
one occurs in the building district.
Though Bryn
Mawr and Merion worked together at the scene of fires, it was a
different story when it came to baseball. In the same year in
which the Bryn Mawr Fire Company was formed, the Main Line
Baseball League was organized. Bryn Mawr got together a team and
entered it in the league and won 18 games while losing four in
1905. The following year they won 20 and lost nine. It was
explained that this was due to sore arms and poor umpiring. They
bounced back in the next two years and won the championship both
times. The Merion Fire Company did not have its own team, but a
number of them played for the Ardmore team. They rivalry was so
terrific between these two teams that practically the whole
Lower Merion police force had to patrol the games. One time as a
gesture of good sportsmanship, Ardmore invited the Bryn Mawr
team to be their dinner guests following the game. However, by
the time the game was over, the men from Ardmore were so bitter
that they told the Bryn Mawr firemen to go buy their own meal.
Ardmore charged that Bryn Mawr stole players and bribed the
umpires. Bryn Mawr, in turn, said that Ardmore was throwing
games and, with pretty good reason, accused them of being
soreheads. The betting produced most of the bitterness. Fans
would borrow, embezzle and risk everything they had on the
outcome of these games. However, Ardmore and Bryn Mawr had been
rivals long before baseball was even heard of. It had been
discovered when these towns were named that they both meant,
"high moor." Bryn Mawr won this argument too, when they proved
that the highest point in Ardmore was six feet lower than the
highest of Bryn Mawr. As stated before, they did not get along
at times, but all was harmonious at the scene of fires.
The second
time both companies responded was in May of the same year as
their first time. The call came late at night and the Ardmore
firemen was unable to get their horses. So a dozen of the
firemen grabbed the pole of the chemical wagon and started to
pull it in the direction of Haverford where the fire was.
Fortunately, a man came along with a car and towed them to
Haverford. Soon after the Bryn Mawr firemen arrived and after
working for hours, the blaze was finally gotten under control.
But not until the amount of damage totaled the sum of $15,000.
Among the notable fires that occurred was one, which happened
when a heavily loaded freight train crashed into another at
Roberts Road in March 1905. A coal stove in the caboose of the
latter started a fire and soon the whole wreck was a blazing
inferno. Bryn Mawr saved the rest of the cars. Last year, on May
18, a train wreck occurred at practically this same spot when
the Red Arrow Flyer struck the 19-car Philadelphia Night
Express, which was from Detroit bound to New York. Though there
was just a small amount if fire, caused by severed electric
wires, the firemen pitched in and helped extricate the injured
and remove the bodies of the dead. The toll was 123 injured, and
nine dead.
In January
1906, together with the fire fighters of West Conshohocken, the
Bryn Mawr responded to a call at the residence of Otis Skinner,
famous actor, who lived on Spring Mill Road. His daughter,
Cornelius, is now also well known. One month after this, they
joined Wayne's fire company in fighting a fire, which demolished
the Suburban Publishing Company's plant in Wayne. The loss
amounted to $20,660. Six newspapers had to find other methods of
printing their matter; the Bryn Mawr Record, Overbrook Argus,
Downingtown Archive, Berwyn Herald, and Wayne Times.
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