NELSONVILLE DIVISION OF FIRE
THE EARLY YEARS
1849 - 1938

THE SUNDAY MESSENGER, ATHENS, OHIO

SUNDAY, MAY 29, 1938

NELSONVILLE - The first fire prevention ordinance in Nelsonville was passed by the town council in 1849. As hindsight is usually more potent than foresight, probably the community had a fire about that time. Fire as a menace is best appreciated while the building or home is burning, or immediately afterward.

In 1853 several ordinances for fire prevention were adopted, regulating the handling of explosives, and other items. Some mischievous individual apparently discovered that bonfires provided a happy medium for lighting and exploding powder squibs, as an ordinance was passed outlawing this practice in that year.

A building commission with investigating powers was appointed in 1884. The first record of a special fire fund appears in March 1884, showing a balance of over $300 in the treasury. The old three story school house on the site of the present Central building. Public Square, was destroyed that year.

One of the most destructive fires in Nelsonville was the burning of Steenrod’s flour mill in 1857. Loss $20,000. Pioneer fire fighting apparatus was necessarily crude. Buildings were small, mostly one story, seldom over two.

The favorite method of attacking fires was by the organization of bucket of bucket brigades. Two lines of men and women stretched from the source of water supply, (the canal in Nelsonville) to the burning area. Buckets of water were passed up one line and thrown on the blaze and the empty buckets sent down the other line for replenishment. With an adequate supply of buckets and sufficient man-power to maintain the line an even distance a considerable stream of water was provided. Ninety-six buckets were bought in 1884. Sixty more were bought in 1893.

When the school house burned in 1884, the bucket brigade extended in a double line of men and women from the scene of the fire on the north side of the Public Square clear to the canal basin at the foot of Hocking St.

A hook and ladder wagon appeared on the scene about 1886, though no record appears of its purchase. In the same year council grew benevolent and donated $25 to the fire department to purchase uniforms.

Activities of the fire and building commission appear frequently in the records and orders issued to recalcitrant property owners compelling them to renew a roof or make other repairs to dwelling or store.

On July 2, 1890, Mayor Buckley appointed Capt. J. F. Welch as chief of the fire department. This is the first record of a chief being appointed. No salary accompanied the honor. Having acquired a hook and ladder equipment, means of getting the outfit to the scene of the fire were urgent.

Council adopted a resolution in 1893 offering a reward of $3.00 to the man who arrived at the department first with a team of horses in case of alarm. Colbert Herrold was the first to claim the reward and C.S. Newton the second.

W. H. Hatch was appointed chief in 1894; James Knight, first ward assistant, and Ed Wallace third ward assistant.

In 1894, the water works plant was established, mains laid and the city supplied with regular fire hydrants. A movement to modernize the fire department was instituted and 1,500 feet of hose was purchased and three hose reels which were stationed in different sections of the village. It was the boast of the department that a stream of water could be shot over the top of Stuart’s Opera House.

In 1895, a regular volunteer fire department was established providing for a chief and forty-eight men — three ward companies and a hook and ladder company of twelve men each. The following officers were appointed by Mayor Buckley: Chief, Charles Kontner; first ward, James Smith, captain, Wade Knight; lieutenant; second ward, H. D. Krieg, lieutenant; third ward, Ed Wallace, captain, G. W. Johnson, lieutenant.

The department was reduced in December, 1896, and an ordinance was adopted allotting each fireman $1 for each fire attended, and the captain $2. The latter was also required to take care of the equipment stationed in his ward.

This is the first record of compensation being paid firemen in the city. The first fire after the pay ordinance became effective was at the plant of the Nelsonville Sewer Pipe Co., and as a general alarm was sounded and every ward company responded the firemen’s bill amounted to $50.50. Salaries in March 1897, amounted to $81.50.

The fire department was organized on a plan similar to that now in effect in August, 1901, at the time the new city building was ready for occupancy. Proper provisions for the housing of the department were provided in the structure, and a fighting force consisting of a chief and assistant’s regularly stationed at the building, and six men to respond to alarms was placed in operation. Charles Kontner was the first chief regularly stationed and Harve Shafer, assistant. The Seagrave wagon was purchased and Harve Shafer drove the team to the first fire thereafter, the Dave Six barn in the fourth ward.

Three different teams of horses served faithfully on the Nelsonville fire department. The first pair Dan and Pat and the two succeeding were Dicks and Dans. These horses were thoroughly trained, and it was an inspiring and thrilling sight to see them dashing madly across the city to the scene of the fire. A wealth of romance was lost when the fire horses passed out of the picture to be succeeded by the mechanical truck. At the sound of the gong, the stall doors were opened and the prancing horses sprang to position at the wagon. Suspended harness was dropped and snapped into place. A pull at a rope by the driver firmly braced on the seat and the doors of the department were automatically opened and with a rush and clatter away dashed the team.

John Lowden succeeded Kontner as chief in 1904 and for many years he served in that capacity. Harve Shafer continued as assistant until succeeded by James Stephenson who remained until 1915, when the regular force was reduced to one man. Ill health forced the resignation of Lowden and he was succeeded by Walter Higgins, who was followed in rapid order by Fitzer, Loud, Taylor and Kelch.

During one period Chief of Police Pearson served as fire chief without extra compensation during a time when a regular man could not be secured. Frank Lowery was appointed chief in September 1921, and continued until 1926, when the present fire chief, Dana Windon, was appointed by Mayor Eberle.

About 1911 during Lowden’s administration as chief, the department staged a successful street carnival in Nelsonville and from the funds derived purchased much new equipment including harness, helmets, uniforms and other accessories.

For a number of immediately past years, the police and fire departments annually staged a benefit ball and the funds are used in the purchase of various items of equipment.

The original fire wagon was sold to Dick Bryson of Buchtel, and the last of the famous line of fire horses were sold in 1920 to "Bally" Smith of Chauncey.

The first motor truck, a chemical wagon with hose equipment, was purchased in 1920. It remained in service until the present pumper was installed during the administration of Mayor L. J. Eberle, June 1, 1927. The first piece of motor equipment was continued in auxiliary service until about two years ago when it was sold to the Village of Chauncey.

Among the members of the department who served at the time the city building was erected were; Charles Kontner, Charles Vorhes, Harve Shafer, Mark Gettle, John Nye, Oril Stephenson, Stanley Dew, Clarence Coe and John Rider. Dr. A. L. Pritchard and Hiram Howe comprised the first board of public safety after Nelsonville was organized as a city.

One of the most destructive fires recorded destroyed the "Valley Register" building and plant on West Washington St., in January 1908. Total loss was fixed at $11,400 distributed as follows; Mrs. S. E. Tullis, millinery, dwelling and printing; Chinese laundry where the fire is said to have originated; dwelling owned by C. A. Cable; Knight Dwelling and Cable Store. The year 1908 was the most severe in the history of the department and loses aggregated $21,205. The smallest loss recorded in any year was in 1913 and posted at $135. The skating rink fire in the Felix Patton building on Hocking street also occurred in 1908.

The Hocking Valley Railway coal bunkers were destroyed in June, 1917, at a loss of $9, 500. The Shafer wholesale fire September 22, 1918, caused a loss of $3600.

Six people have lost their lives by fire in Nelsonville, according to department records. In the earlier days, no records were kept. Nov. 13, 1917, the infant child of Mr. And Mrs. John Perry was burned to death in a fire which destroyed their dwelling in the fourth ward. Dick Brown, a railroad man, lost his life in the gas tank explosion which started the Shafer fire in 1918. Alva Port died from burns received at his home in East End in 1921. Since 1926 three people have lost their lives in local fires; J. W.Vance, Mrs. Mary Parry and Mrs. Mary Kale.

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