Evening Star Newspaper, July 12, 1931, Page 70

THE SUNDAY SYAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, JULY 12, 19817 ashington [Among the Most Noted of These Orga;ziza— tions Were Union, Franklin, Ana- costia and George- town’s Vigilant. 0ld Engine Houses and Their Sites. Battles in the City Streets. BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. HE old voluntee: fire companies, which were supplanted many years ago in the District of Columbia by the horse-drawn apparatus, did not die or pass into the discard without leaving somcthing worthy of their existence. Like many ano institution of the carly days, they lefl to vs @ historic record still meriting the highest praise and commenda- tion for brave:y and efficiency. There are very few men living today who were volunteer firemen attached to some par- ticular company, for the reason that the paid department—the nucleus of what we have today —came into existence on May 19, 1864, in ac- cordance with an act of the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common Council of the City of Washington, approved April 25, 1864, or 67 years ago, and to have even been a boy of 15 years old at that time would now mean & man of 82. Indeed, the last surviving member of the volunteers remaining in the paid depart- ment in 1904 was the late Chief Engineer Wil- liam T. Belt, who was presented with a loving cup by the Volunteer Firemen’s Association at the old engine house, Nineteenth and H streets northwest, on October 3 of that year upon the occasion of the celeb.ation of the 100th anni- versaty of the organization of the first fire company in the city, which took place August 18, 1804. = =y ROM an account printed at the time of the celebration we find that Chief Belt joined the PFranklin Company in 1862, and that after the firemen were put on a salary basis he filled every position in line from private to chief engineer. The honor of being the first volunteer fire company on record this side of Rock Creek seems to rest with the Union Fire Company, organized in 1804, and which for the few years it existed had its headquarters at the West Market, a building also known as the Town Hall, and the construction of which was begun Jate in 1802, while it opened early in 1803. It stood in the triangular space on the north side of Pennsylvania avenue between Twentieth and Twenty-first streets, and its lower floors were used to house the stalls for the market, while the upper floor was used as a public hall, and for a while os a meeting place for Hiram Lodge, No. 10, F. A. A M. This company was organized mainly for the protection of the War and Navy Buildings and was given the use of the engine that belonged to the Government and which was then said to be in a “building near the Treasury Office.” The engine house itself was a frame building which stood on the Twentieth street side of the market, and when the company was re- organized in 1814 it occupied the same wooden structure. Of its first officers we find such well known names as James Hoban, president; Andrew Way, jr., vice president; Washington Boyd, treasurer; James Kearney, secretary. Clotworthy Stephenson, Peter Lenox, Lewis Marin and Henry Langtry were the engineers; John Hewitt, Thomas Thorpe, Thomas Car- penter, Henry Hereford, John P. Van Ness and Joseph Calvert, firemen; James Huddleston, John Aiken, Orlando Cook, Hugh Boyd, George Moore, Thomas Given, John Dobbin and C. M. Nautz, laddermen; David Shoemaker, Richard Forrest, John McGowan, George Way, Lewis Clephane and Thomas Heitz, sentinels, and the company’s Board of General Superintendence consisted of John Payne, Edward Fretby, S. L. McCormick, Ezra Varden, Alexander Cochran, Robert Tally, William Thornton, James Thorn- ton and John Hewitt. A GLANCE inio the early social history of Washington will show these men to have *been of the very highest order. James Hoban designed and twice built the White House and ‘was the first worshipful master of Federal Lodge, No. 1, of Masons, and marshal at the head of its members in the parade incident to the laying of the corner stone of the Capitol. “ Andrew and George Way were early Wash- ington printers, one of whom was probably & ‘member of the firm of Way & Groff as far ‘back as 1801. Washington Boyd was one of the principal men in the surveying department ©of the District from 1794 to 1798 and later tax collector and treasurer of the city and United Btates Marshal for the District of Columbia. 9 s Ancient Volunteer Fire Gompanies Old Union Engine House, Nineteeenth and H streets northiwcest, home of t 1837. To left of engine, reading from left to right, are Shaw, A. J. Cummis Key, J. D. Schofield, H. C. Thorn, gon, J. Stronel and B. W. Summy. the following members of the F. H. Frifley, H. Kahlert, F. A. Lowe, William T. Sorrell, James Crog- To right of engine, reading from left to right, are members of the Association of Oldest he Association of Oldest Inhabitants, erected 1836- Voluteer Firemen's Association: A. D. Inhabitants: B. W. Reiss, A. Grupe, F. L. Moore, W. H. Singleton, T. W. Noyes, president; C. S. Bundy, William R. Smith, J. R. Mahoney, J. C. Yost, J. F. Chancey, B. A. Colonna, A. P. Fardon, J. B. McCarthy, N. Watkins, A. H. Ragan, B. D. Drane and A. W. Kelley. The fire apparatus in center is the Columbia suction engine, built in 1853. James Kearney was a son of John Kearney, an architect; became a colonel in the Engineer Corps of the Army, and died in this city in 1861. John, the father of James, according to his granddaughter, Mrs. Kate Kearney Henry, “bought lots in various localities in this city, and in the first number of the Na- tional Intelligencer, published in 1800, is an advertisement of his offering lots for salc. He built a handsome three-story double brick residence at the southwest corr.er of Fourteenth and P streets in the same year. Being em- ployed to draw the plans for the Custom House in Charleston, S. C., and going to superintend its building, he died there in 1803. His family continued to live in their Washington home. Messrs. Joséph C. and Henry A. Willard the Kearney property -sabout 1858. It is the portion of ground now covered by the cld vart of the Willard Hotel. prominence in the early days of the city. He was one of a few men who succeeded in plac- ing the first building on the old Center Market site; together with James Hoban and Andrew Eastave was granted a charter for Federal Lodge of Masons, and was chairman of the pioneer building association in this city, known as the Washington Buildng Co. LENOX, who serve as foreman of con- structon in the building of the White House, was & man of prominence even before 1800, for 1798 we find that lots at the southeast cor- of Eleventh and G strects northwest and the northwest corner of Tenth and F streets te of Woodward & Lothrop's store—were prepared for building at his request. He also engaged in the Jumber business, and evidently & man of means. those, indeed, whose names appear a8 Home of the Vigilant Fire Co., Georgetown, erected about 1829 on the west side of Wisconsin avenue, south of M street. Of her maternal grandfather—also here men- tioned—Mrs. Kearney says: “My maternal grandfather, Richard Forrest, was the son of Capt. Zachariah Forrest of St. Marys County, Md., of the Continental Army, whose brother, Uriah, was a colonel and brevet brigadier gen- eral in the Maryland line. At an early age Richard Forrest was sent to France to be edu- cated. On his return to America in 1787, he married Sarah Craufurd, a daughter of David Craufurd of Upper Marlboro. They moved to Georgetown, where Mr. Forrest was made post- master in April, 1797, by Washington, and con- tinued in office until February, 1799.” (As John Adams was President in April, 1797, it was no doubt he who appointed Mr. Forrest to office.) Clotworthy Stephenson was also & man of members of the first company were of more than passing prominence at ihe time, as were John P. Van Ness, the New York congress- man, who married Marcia, the daughter of David Burnes, and William Thornton, archi- tect of the Capitol and a man of more than ordinary scientific and literary attainments. After the old Union was reorganized in 1814 it seems again to have become dormant and remained so until shortly before it moved into its new house, in 1836 or 1837. This build- ing, erected by Congress at the southeast cor- ner of H and Nineteenth streets, is today next to the oldest of the early engine houses stand- ing in the District, which were used by volun- teer companies, the old Vigilant house in Georgetown probably preceding it by a decade. Evidently it was late in 1836 or early in 1837 that the Union company moved from the Wesk Market, which was later torn down, in 1855. After the burning of tne Infirxtary Hos pital, in Judiciary Square, late in 1861, the first steam fire engine located in this city was brought here from Philadelphia by order of the Secretary of War. William Dickson—or “Bill” Dicksor, as we used to call him—was placed in cha:ge with a corps of experienced men to handle it, and the Union Engine House at Nineteenth and H streets was taken over by the Federal company, the Union company moving to & new frame house on a lot on the south side of Pennsylvania avenue between Twentieth and Twenty-first streets. Of the coming of Mr. Dickson and his up-to-date equipment the late Albion K. Parris has said: “The muititude of inflammable buildings, erected during the war between the States, called for additional fire protection, and so the Hibernia, Meigs and Rucker engines, newly so named, were brought here from other cities. The suction engine and hose of the Union Fire Company were moved to a new frame house on a lot on the south side of Pennsylvania avenue between Twentieth and Twenty-first streets, and the Hibernia to our Union's quar- ters, at H and Nineteenth streets, now qccupied by the Association of Oldest Inhabitants. Many doubtless remember Bill Dickson, who was fore- man of the Hibernia, in his red shirt, with his sleeves rolled up. He bscam: a factor in local Democratic politics here after the war, and dur- ing the remainder of our voting days. A pretty lively crowd of fire fighters were these men, and it was all our parents could do to keep us away from the Hibermia crew and their rough talk and unrefined jokes.” WH.BN the paid fire department in its com= plete form was ushered in on July 1, 1864, the house for fire purposes was abandoned and the lower floor for awhile became a mess room for the indigent poor of that part of the city. From early accounts it would appear that the upper floor was freely used, especially from 1842 to 1845, for the discussion of the free- school question, and addresses were here made by members of Congress and other distinguished men, notably John Quincy Adars, who always drew large audiences. Mr. -Justice ‘Woodbury, associate justice of the United States Court; Caleb Cushing, Charles Hudson, Rev. S. G. Bulfinch and Rev. E. E. Hale were also among those who spoke in this old building. In 1859 the upper floor became a public school, the first teacher assigned here being Miss Mary J. Mills. When the fire department moved out, both floors were used for educational purposes and continued at Jeast until 1881, when Fanny L. Reeves, Jennie L. Bickford and Grace Cauldwell are mentioned as teachers. To those of us whose families have lived for many years in the District of Columbia, it is especially interesting to see one of our ances- tors’ names in print in connection with some object or purpose having to do with the city's carly history. And though the writer knows he cannot please all—however much he may desire to do so—yet he knows some one will recognize a name or two, dear to him, or to her, in the following list of names of the officers and mem- bers of the Union Fire Company for the year 1841. They are: Edmund Hanly, president; William B. Ma- gruder, vice president; Charles Calvert, secre- tary; Willam H. Perkins, assistant secretary, and Samuel Stott, treasurer. Engine Division—John O. P. Degg:s, captain, Members: ‘Thomas Smith, James Mitchell, Terence Drury, George J. Abbott, H. Benezett, John D. Barclay, Richard Brown, Charles Cal- vert, John Chism, Elijah Dyer, John Dewdney, Francis H. Darnall, Samuel Drury, Robert Earl, Edward Edwards, John Rawling, Horatio Fitch, Francis Godfray, Joseph Goodyear, Barton Hackney, J. L. Henshaw, Andrew Hoover, Thomas Johnson, T. T. Parker, John Keith, John E. Lewis, Alexander McIntire, B. Mul- Raney, George Markward, Edward Owen, John Owen, Thomas L. Potter, Samuel Redfern, John