FDNY and NYC Firehouses and Fire Companies

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Nfd,

I know you are familiar with the Bridgeport,  CT FD. A similar situation arose there on the east side when they built the new firehouse to  co-locatte E8 with E6/L6. I forget all the details but do remember that the city was sued by the real property owner after the house was actually built and I think in service. DUH! The city settled with the owner.
 

mack

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Surburban Engine 36/Engine 36/Battalion 12/Battalion 12-2  firehouses  East Harlem

    Suburban Engine 36 organized 1849 Park Avenue (4th Ave)                    1865
              (former quarters volunteer Pocahontas Engine 49)
    Suburban Engine 36 became Engine 36                                                  1868
    Engine 36 moved to 104 E 126th St former quarters SEC 37                    1893
    Engine 36 moved to new firehouse 1849 Park Avenue                              1894
    Engine 36 moved to 120 E 125th Street former quarters Ladder 14          1975
    Engine 36 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue at Engine 35                                  2000
    Engine 36 moved to 120 E 125th Street                                                  2000
    Engine 36 disbanded                                                                            2003

    Battalion 12 moved to 120 E 125th Street at Ladder 14                          1904
    Battalion 12 moved to new firehouse 2282 3rd Avenue w/Engine 35        1974
    Battalion 12 moved to 120 E 125th Street at Engine 36                          1990
    Battalion 12 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue at Engine 35                              1995

    Battalion 12-2 organized 120 E 125th Street at Ladder 14                      1968
    Battalion 12-2 disbanded                                                                      1969   

   
History volunteer Pocahontas Engine 49:
    Organized Cherry St and Walnut Street        1832-1835 (no name associated with company)
    Reorganized E 126th St and 3rd Avenue      1835-1857   
    Moved to 2333 4th Avenue                          1857-1865
    Disbanded                                                  1865

"Pocahontas  (the second No. 49). After the great fire of 1835, the residents of Harlem, feeling themselves not fully protected by the one Engine Company-No. 35-stationed in their section of the city, set to work to organize another engine company, and 49 came into existence and located in 126th Street, between 3rd and 4th Avenues, under the old station house. This house had a fire bell on it, as had the next house to which they removed in 1857. This was a new brick building on the east side of 4th Avenue, between 126th and 127th Streets, and is now used by Engine Company No. 36 of the Paid Department. At the time of their organization Gouverneur Morris ran a milk dairy in Harlem, which he called the "Pocahontas Dairy," and their old gooseneck engine, which was built in 1826, and was painted white, was christened "Pocahontas." They had the back painted with a representation of Pocahontas saving the life of Captain John Smith, and did duty with this engine until 1854, when they received a new Carson piano engine of third-class caliber. The old engine was laid aside, and now graces one of the upper floors of the repair shops of the present Fire Department in W 3rd Street. The back remains the same, but the box has been painted a dark color. John S. Kenyon was the first foreman, and was elected an assistant engineer in 1840; Warren Brady followed him as foreman. At a fire in Astoria at a tar factory in 1842, one of the former members of this company, William R. Kilpatrick contracted a severe cold, from which he lost his eyesight, and although alive, and well at this time, has never regained his sight. The trustees of the Benevolent Fund have for years stood by him. Wm. E. Pabor, Wm. Tabele, and Epenetus Doughty were among the early foremen of this company,, and Henry P. McGown, now civil justice, held the position of foreman for ten years, being succeeded in 1855 by E. W. Gardner, who had been assistant fireman. Wm. T. Mawbay, of this company, was elected a foreman of No. 8 Engine, was also members for a number of years. The Harlem Base Ball Club (celebrated from 1857 to 1860) contained several members of this company. Michael Kennedy succeeded Gardner as foreman, with A. A. Liscomb as assistant. In 1861 the company discarded the Carson engine, and took in its place the engine that had been used by No. 26 Engine Company, and replaced by a steam engine. It was of the piano style, but of a much lighter build than their former engine. Wm. H. Waterson and A. J. Walsh were at that time elected as foreman and assistant of the company. Cuthbert W. Ridley followed in 1862 as foreman and was elected an assistant engineer in 1863. Thomas C. Kennedy, who was assistant foreman, was elected foreman, and held the office till the company went out of service in 1865."  From ?Our Firemen ? the History of the NY Fire Department?

?Pocahontas engine, No. 49:  Foreman, Andrew J. Walsh. Located the east side of 4th Avenue, between 126th and 127th streets; performs duty in Harlem and vicinity. House in good order; engine third class, piano style, four 7-inch cylinders, 4 1/2-inch stroke, patent capstan, in good condition; built in 1853, by Pine & Hartshorn; rebuilt in 1859, by the same; formerly belonged to Engine Company No. 26; present number of men, 18; 400 feet of hose in ordinary condition, and 400 feet bad.? From ?Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York? by D.T. Valentine 1865


Engine 36 original quarters:


E 36 1929 Seagrave:


Engine 36 1937:




E 36 1958 Mack:


120 E 125th St firehouse (Ladder 14 former firehouse)





Runs and Workers 1975-2002:
Year  Engine  Runs  EMS  Workers  OSW AL
1975  36      4280    0      3087        0 
1976  36      4420    0      3265        0 
1977  36      3996    0      2856        0 
1978  36      3686    0      2469        0 
1979  36      2579    0      1387        0 
1980  36      2887    0      1607        0 
1981  36      2625    0      1359        0 
1982  36      2430    0      1326        0 
1983  36      2319    0      1275      258 
1984  36      2231    0      1197        0 
1985  36      2278    0      1265      270 
1986  36      2166    0      1176      215 
1987  36      2392    0      1212      204 
1988  36      2685    0      1442      255 
1989  36      2643    0      1427      269 
1990  36      2850    0      1430      213 
1991  36      2898    0      1479      226 
1992  36      3148    0      1531      333 
1993  36      3004    0      1441      311 
1994  36      2808    0      1232      264 
1995  36      2698    0      1372      248 
1996  36      2457 151    1409      188 
1997  36      2859 626    1644      239 
1998  36      2891 687    1703      219 
1999  36      2960 691    1763      230 
2000  36      2932 699    1700      213 
2001  36      2845 690    1580      172 
2002  36      2759 768    1669      194
(thanks Frank Raffa)

Engine 36 LODDs - RIP:
FF John Banks          March 31, 1894
FF Andrew B George  January 3, 1939
FF Emile A Steiner    May 22, 1944
FF Elbert Hardman    January 9, 1945
FF Philip C Smith      October 5, 1968


120 E 125th Street current use:
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120110/harlem/landmark-harlem-firehouse-be-reborn-as-afrocaribbean-cultural-institute
http://www.denhamwolf.com/Denham-Wolf-Projects.php?p=170



 

mack

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Suburban Engine and Ladder Companies:

"The 'suburban' companies operated differently than the regular 'full time' paid units. Hoseman and ladderman in the suburban units were paid less than their counterparts in the regular units but they were permitted to work at their former occupations. They had to conform to all other rules and regulations of the new department, were required to sleep in the firehouse, attend all alarms, and be present in quarters two afternoons per month for drills and committee work. The suburban engine companies were equipped with hand drawn pumpers and the suburban ladder companies were equipped with ladder trucks similar to the regular ladder companies except that they were hand drawn."  from "Wheels of the Bravest"
 
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Messages
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Thanks for the backup on E36, mack, and continuing this thread.

Two things to notice:

1. The link you provided about a Carribean museum is over 2 years old. Still hasn't happened.

2. The drop off in runs/ workers from 1978 to 1979. Follows another post on this forum on the change in the welfare laws and red caps.
 
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Messages
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3511 said:
Historian, not all firehouse property has the codicil in the deed that it be used only as a firehouse. L14 was one of them. Most houses are built on lots purchased by the City for any purpose. At the time E36 was closed I asked then Fire Commissioner Scopetta about the restriction in the deed and he dismissed it as untrue. Events since have proven him wrong. I am not privy to all the details, but it's almost a decade and the City is still trying to find  way around the deed restrictions to do something with the property.

I wasn't really suggesting that all unused city buildings are firehouses, but I was wondering if the codicil for L14's house to "be used only as a firehouse" was jeopardized by having no active companies in that building.  If an inactive building is still considered to be a firehouse then it would be no different from any other inactive building.  Apparently, the inability of the city to do anything with the property and that the attorneys are still "working" on it, suggests that there is an issue.  It is also possible that since the property has had an active fire company from before 1865 and going back to Mechanics H&L 7, that the city may be unable to find the descendents of the people who deeded it conditionally to the city in order to return it to them.

3511 & NFD - The likely reason that the owner of the Bridgeport property, that the city built its firehouse on, waited until the firehouse was built, was so that the value of his claim would be so much larger when settled.  The city had to settle and settle most favorably because it already had a building.
 
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Good points, fdhistorian.

Although the house and property on East 125th street dates "only" to 1888, not to the older volunteer days,  that might well be the problem that no heirs to the estate can be found. But as someone who worked in real estate, i know that a clear title is essential to any buyer. Lawsuits all around if the city makes the wrong move. As happened in Bridgeport, the real owner waited until the firehouse was built and then pounced.

I am still amused however that the wizards at City Hall messed it up so bad back in the 1970's, resulting in E's 35 and 36 being located around the corner from each other for thirty years. And for something any FF who ever worked in L14 could have told them. Sure hope no one on East 119th Street lost their lives in a fire during that time because the first due engine was just too far away.
 

mack

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Engine 35/Ladder 14/Thawing Apparatus 1/Battalion 12  firehouses  East Harlem

    Engine 35 organized 223 E 119th Street former firehouse volunteer Columbus Engine 35  1868
    Engine 35 moved to 209 E 122nd Street at Suburban Engine 37                                      1889
    Engine 35 moved to new firehouse 223 E 119th Street                                                    1891
    Engine 35 moved to new firehouse 2282 3rd Avenue with Thawing Apparatus 1                1974

    Suburban Ladder 14 organized 120 E 125th Street former firehouse Mechanics Ladder 7  1865
    Suburban Ladder 14 became Ladder 14                                                                        1868
    Ladder 14 moved to 209 E 122nd Street                                                                        1888
    Ladder 14 moved to new firehouse 120 E 125th Street                                                  1889
    Ladder 14 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue at Engine 35                                                        1975

    Thawing Unit 1 organized 223 E 119th Street at Engine 35                                            1957
    Thawing Unit 1 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue w/Engine 35                                                1974
    Thawing Unit 1 moved to 120 E 125th Street at Engine 36                                            1986
    Thawing Unit 1 moved to 145 W 100th Street at Engine 76                                            1987

    Battalion 12 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue at Engine 35                                                    1995

Columbus Engine 35 History:


Engine 35 at 223 E 119th Street:


223 E 119th Street firehouse:





2282 3rd Avenue firehouse:








Decommissioned 120 E 125th Street firehouse (also quarters to Engine 36)







http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120110/harlem/landmark-harlem-firehouse-be-reborn-as-afrocaribbean-cultural-institute

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/uptown/afro-caribbean-cultural-center-el-barrio-article-1.1275425

Engine 35:




Ladder 14:







Engine 35/Ladder 14/Battalion 12 quarters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dfvBxDdZsM

Engine 35/Ladder 14/Battalion 12 response:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pc-8SasRUE


Engine 35 LODD - FF John Degnan  April 7, 1931x
Box 66-1486, 2049 5TH Avenue
Engine 35 collision with truck - hit 3rd Avenue pillar at 123rd Street
RIP












 

mack

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Harlem - origin of Collyers' Mansion Condition

Harlem was the location of a brownstone at 2078 5th Avenue, occupied by 2 brothers, Homer Lusk Collyer (1881?1947) and Langley Wakeman Collyer (1885?1947), who became famous because of their bizarre natures and compulsive hoarding. Their Harlem home originated the firefighting term "Colliers' Mansion Condition" for a dwelling of hoarders that is so filled with trash and debris it becomes a serious danger to the occupants and emergency responders.

For decades, the rarely seen brothers obsessively collected books, furniture, musical instruments, and many other items, with booby traps set up in corridors and doorways to ensnare intruders. Both were eventually found dead in the Harlem brownstone where they had lived, surrounded by over 140 tons of collected items that they had amassed over several decades.

History:
The Collyer brothers were sons of Herman Livingston Collyer, a Manhattan gynecologist and Susie Gage Frost, an opera singer. Their parents were first cousins. The brothers would later claim that their ancestors had traveled to America from England on the Speedwell, the ship that arrived in Massachusetts a week after the Mayflower in 1620.

Both Homer and Langley attended Columbia University. Homer obtained a degree in law, while Langley studied engineering and chemistry. Langley was an accomplished concert pianist and played professionally at Carnegie Hall. Langley was also a layman of the Trinity Church where the family had been parishioners since 1697.

In 1909, their father, Dr. Herman Collyer, moved the family into the four-story brownstone in Harlem. Dr. Collyer was known to be eccentric himself and frequently paddled down the East River in a canoe to the City Hospital on Blackwell's Island, where he worked, and then carried the canoe back to his home in Harlem after he came ashore on Manhattan Island.  Around 1919, their parents separated. Homer and Langley, who had never married or lived on their own, remained with their mother in her Harlem brownstone.

After their parents' deaths, the Collyer brothers continued to live together in the Harlem brownstone they inherited from their mother. During this time, they socialized normally and left their home on a regular basis. Homer continued to practice law while Langley worked as a piano dealer. In 1933, Homer lost his eyesight due to hemorrhages in the back of his eyes. Langley quit his job to care for his brother and the two began to withdraw from society.

As time progressed, the brothers became fearful due to demographic changes in the neighborhood.  The largely white, upper-class neighborhood went into decline during the Great Depression. Crime and poverty rates increased and more African Americans moved into the once empty apartment houses that were built near a projected subway route. When asked why the two chose to shut themselves off from the world, Langley Collyer replied, "We don't want to be bothered."  As rumors about the brothers' unconventional lifestyle spread throughout Harlem and crowds began to congregate outside their home, the brothers' fears increased as did their eccentricities. They boarded up the windows of their brownstone after teenagers threw rocks at their windows and wired the doors shut. After a number of attempted burglaries due to unfounded rumors that the brothers' home contained valuables and large sums of money, Langley set about using his engineering skills to set up booby traps and tunnels among the collection of items and garbage that filled the house.  The house soon became a maze of boxes, complicated tunnel systems rigged with trip wires and various amounts of junk and garbage. Homer and Langley Collyer lived among the items in "nests" created amongst the debris that was piled to the ceiling.

Langley spent the majority of his time tinkering with various inventions, such as a device to vacuum the insides of pianos and a Model T Ford adapted to generate electricity. He also cared for his brother Homer. Langley later told a reporter that he fed and bathed his brother, read him classic literature as he could no longer see and played piano sonatas for him. He also tended to Homer's health and was determined to cure his brother's physical ailments through "diet and rest". Langley concocted a diet consisting of one hundred oranges a week, black bread and peanut butter that he claimed was curing Homer's blindness. After Homer became paralyzed due to inflammatory rheumatism, he refused to seek professional medical treatment because both brothers mistrusted doctors. Langley stated that if Homer sought medical attention, doctors would cut his optic nerve which would leave him permanently blind and they would give Homer drugs that would certainly hasten his death. Langley Collyer later told a reporter, "You must remember that we are the sons of a doctor. We have a medical library of 15,000 books in the house. We decided we would not call in any doctors. You see, we knew too much about medicine."

Langley began venturing out of the house only after midnight and would walk miles all over the city to get food, sometimes going as far as Williamsburg, Brooklyn to buy as little as a loaf of bread. He would also pick food out of the garbage and collect food that was going to be thrown out by grocers and butchers to bring back to his brother Homer. He also collected countless pieces of abandoned items and trash that aroused his interest.

By the early 1930s, the Collyer brothers' brownstone had fallen into disrepair. Their telephone was disconnected in 1917 and never reconnected as the brothers said they had no one to talk to. Because the brothers failed to pay their bills, the electricity, water, and gas were turned off in 1928. The brothers took to warming the large house using only a small kerosene heater. For a while, Langley attempted to generate his own energy by means of a car engine. Langley would fetch their water from a pump in nearby parks. Their only link to the outside world was via a crystal radio that Langley made.

Neighbors and shopkeepers in the area described Langley Collyer as a generally polite and rational man but added that he was "crazy". A reporter who interviewed Langley in 1942 described him as a "soft spoken old gentleman with a liking for privacy" who spoke in a "low, polite and cultivated voice." His appearance was disheveled; he sported a droopy mustache, wore a 1910 boating cap and his tattered clothes were held together by pins. While Langley Collyer ventured out of the home and occasionally interacted with other people, Homer had not been seen or heard from since he went blind in 1933 and retreated from the world. Langley was fiercely protective of Homer and would not allow anyone to see him. When he caught neighbors attempting to peek into their windows from a neighboring home, Langley bought the property for $7,500 cash. When a small fire broke out in the home in 1941, Langley refused to let fireman see or speak to his brother.

In 1932, shortly before Homer Collyer went blind, he purchased the property across the street from their house at 2077 Fifth Avenue, with the intent of developing it by putting up an apartment building. But after the onset of his blindness, any plans of profit from the real estate venture fell through. Since the Collyer brothers never paid any of their bills and stopped paying income taxes in 1931, the property was repossessed by the City of New York in 1943 to pay the $1,900 in back income taxes that the Collyers owed the city. Langley protested the repossession of their property, saying that since they had no income, they should not have to pay income taxes.

While rumors and legends abounded in Harlem about the brothers, they came to wider attention when, in 1938, a story about their refusal to sell their home to a real estate agent for $125,000 appeared in The New York Times. The Times repeated information about the brothers' hoarding and also repeated neighborhood rumors that the brothers lived in some sort of "Orientalist splendor" and were sitting on vast piles of cash, afraid to deposit it in a bank. Neither rumor was true; the brothers were certainly not broke, although eventually they would have been, since neither of them had worked for decades. Langley explained that he dressed in shabby clothing because, "They would rob me if I didn't.

The Collyer brothers made the news again when, in 1939, workers from Consolidated Edison forced their way into the house to remove two gas meters that had been shut off in 1928. The incident reportedly drew a crowd of 1,000 curious onlookers. They drew media attention again in 1942 when they got in trouble with the bank after refusing to pay the mortgage on their house. That same year, the New York Herald Tribune interviewed Langley. In response to a query about the bundles of newspapers that were kept in the brothers' home, Langley replied, "I am saving newspapers for Homer, so that when he regains his sight he can catch up on the news."

When the Bowery Savings Bank began eviction procedures, they sent over a cleanup crew. Langley began yelling at the workers prompting the neighbors to summon the police. When the police attempted to force their way in to the home by smashing down the front door, they were stymied by a sheer wall of junk piled from floor to ceiling. They found Langley Collyer in a clearing he made in the middles of the debris. Without comment, Langley made out a check for $6,700 (2014 equivalent of $96,707, paying off the mortgage in full in a single payment. He then ordered everyone off the premises, and withdrew from outside scrutiny once more, emerging only at night and when he wanted to file criminal complaints against intruders, get food or collect items that piqued his interest.

On March 21, 1947, an anonymous tipster who identified himself only as "Charles Smith" phoned the 122nd Police Precinct and insisted there was a dead body in the house. The caller claimed that the smell of decomposition was emanating from the house.  As the police were used to calls from neighbors about the Collyer brothers' home, a patrol officer was dispatched. The responding officer initially had a difficult time getting into the house. There was no doorbell nor telephone and the doors were locked; and though the basement windows were broken, they were protected by iron grillwork. An emergency squad of seven men eventually had no choice but to begin pulling out all the junk that was blocking their way and throwing it out onto the street below. The brownstone's foyer was packed solid by a wall of old newspapers, folding beds and chairs, half a sewing machine, boxes, parts of a wine press, and numerous other pieces of junk. A patrolman finally broke in through a window into a second-story bedroom. Behind this window lay, among other things, more packages and newspaper bundles, empty cardboard boxes lashed together with rope, the frame of a baby carriage, a rake, and old umbrellas tied together. After five hours of digging, Homer Collyer's body was found in an alcove surrounded by filled boxes and newspapers that were piled to the ceiling. Homer was wearing a tattered blue-and-white bathrobe, his matted, grey hair reached his shoulders, and his head was resting on his knees.

The medical examiner confirmed Homer's identity and said that the elder brother had been dead for approximately ten hours. According to the medical examiner, Homer died from starvation and heart disease. Police initially suspected that Langley Collyer was the man who phoned in the anonymous tip regarding his brother's death and theorized that he fled the house before police arrived (it was later discovered that a neighbor called police based on a rumor he heard). A police officer was posted outside the home to wait for Langley but he never arrived. Police began to suspect that Langley was dead when he failed to attend Homer's funeral held on April 1.

On March 30, false rumors circulated that Langley had been seen aboard a bus heading for Atlantic City. A manhunt along the New Jersey shore turned up nothing. Reports of Langley sightings led police to a total of nine states. The police continued searching the house two days later, removing 3,000 books, several outdated phone books, a horse's jawbone, a Steinway piano, an early X-ray machine, and more bundles of newspapers.  More than nineteen tons of junk was removed from the ground floor of the brownstone. The police continued to clear away the brothers' stockpile for another week, removing another eighty-four tons of rubbish from the house. Although a good deal of the junk came from their father's medical practice, a considerable portion was discarded items collected by Langley over the years. Approximately 2,000 people stood outside the home to watch the clean up effort.

On April 8, 1947, a workman found the body of Langley Collyer ten feet from where Homer had died. Langley was found in a two-foot wide tunnel lined with rusty bed springs and a chest of drawers. His decomposing body, which was the actual source of the smell reported by the anonymous tipster, had been partially eaten by rats and was covered by a suitcase, bundles of newspapers and three metal bread boxes. The medical examiner determined that Langley had died around March 9.  Police theorized that Langley was crawling through the tunnel to bring food to his paralyzed brother when he inadvertently tripped the booby trap he created and was crushed by debris.  His cause of death was attributed to asphyxiation.

Both brothers were buried next to their parents in unmarked graves at Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brookly

Police and workmen removed approximately 120 tons of garbage from the Collyer brownstone.  Items were removed from the house such as baby carriages, a doll carriage, rusted bicycles, old food, potato peelers, a collection of guns, glass chandeliers, bowling balls, camera equipment, the folding top of a horse-drawn carriage, a sawhorse, three dressmaking dummies, painted portraits, photos of pinup girls from the early 1900s, plaster busts, Mrs. Collyer's hope chests, rusty bed springs, the kerosene stove, a child's chair (the brothers were lifelong bachelors and childless), more than 25,000 books (including thousands about medicine and engineering and more than 2,500 on law), human organs pickled in jars, eight live cats, the chassis of the old Model T with which Langley had been tinkering, tapestries, hundreds of yards of unused silks and other fabrics, clocks, fourteen pianos (both grand and upright), a clavichord, two organs, banjos, violins, bugles, accordions, a gramophone and records, and countless bundles of newspapers and magazines, some of them decades old, and thousands of bottles and tin cans and a great deal of garbage.  Near the spot where Homer had died, police also found 34 bank account passbooks, with a total of $3,007 (about $36,366 as of 2014).

Some of the more unusual items found in the home were exhibited at Hubert's Dime Museum, where they were featured alongside Human Marvels and sideshow performers. The centerpiece of this display was the chair in which Homer Collyer had died. The Collyer chair passed into the hands of private collectors upon being removed from public exhibit in 1956.

The house itself, having long gone without maintenance, was decaying: the roof leaked and some walls had caved in, showering bricks and mortar on the rooms below. The house was deemed "unsafe and a fire hazard" in July 1947 and was razed.

Most of the items found in the Collyer brothers' house were deemed worthless and were disposed of. The salvageable items fetched less than $2,000 at auction; the cumulative estate of the Collyer brothers was valued at $91,000, of which $20,000 worth was personal property (jewelry, cash, securities, and the like). Fifty six people, mostly first and second cousins, made claims for the estate. A Pittsburgh woman named Ella Davis claimed to be the long lost sister of the Collyers'. Davis' claim was dismissed after she failed to provide a birth certificate to prove her identity (Years earlier, Davis claimed she was the widow of Peter Liebach, another wealthy New York City recluse who was found murdered in 1937).  In October 1952, the New York County court decided that 23 of the claimants were to split the estate equally.

Legacy: Since the 1960s, the site of the former Collyer house has been a pocket park, named for the brothers. A Collyer's Mansion (also Collyer Mansion or just Collyer) is a modern firefighting term for a dwelling of hoarders that is so filled with trash and debris it becomes a serious danger to the occupants and emergency responders.
From Wikipedia


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqCoC3ChXdg


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers
 

mack

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172 Pacific Street - former firehouse - Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

Unit 1 Brooklyn Salvage Corps  - became FP 8 when merged with New York Fire Patrol
    Unit 1 BSC organized 172 Pacific St  1895
    Unit 1 BSC became FP 8 NYFP  1911

- Organized with: 10 men; 2 wagons; 5 horses; 350 rubber covers
- Response district was  Hudson Ave/Flatbush Ave/9th St/Gowanus Canal/NY Bay/East River
- Unit 1 responded to 605 fires in 1901, traveled 1388 miles, in service 492 hours, spread 1649 covers and extinguished 14 fires.



 

mack

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Engine 44/Division 5/Division 4/Hydrant Service 4/FDR Unit/Hazardous Material Technician Unit - firehouse - 221 East 75th Street  Upper East Side

    Engine 44 organized 221 E 75th Street                                                  1881
    Engine 44 disbanded                                                                            1975
    Engine 44 reorganized                                                                          1975

    Division 5 at 221 E 75th Street at Engine 44                                  1906-1930

    Division 4 at 221 E 75th Street at Engine 44          1930-1949 and 1956-1974

    Hydrant Service 4 organized 221 E 75th Street at Engine 44                    1934
    Hydrant Service 4 disbanded                                                                1957

    FDR 2 at 221 E 75th Street at Engine 44                1998-2000 and 2001-2004

    Hazardous Material Technician Unit organized 221 E 75th St at Engine 44  2004

221 East 75th Street:










Engine 44 1929 Seagrave:


Engine 44 1932 Mack:




Engine 44 1985 Mack:












FDR Unit:


Engine 44 responding with Haz Mat section:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT_n5baMqq8

Engine 44 responding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiKjOJQQV-o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC42zAPq2kk

Engine 44 modification:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f18YROoURM


Engine 44 LODD:
FF Joseph A. Flanagan  July 31, 1921  1158 1st Avenue  - overcome by smoke  RIP


Upper East Side:
http://www.uppereast.com/history

http://www.friends-ues.org/historic-districts-and-landmarks/upper-east-side-historic-district/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_East_Side


















 
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Messages
4,563
Hi Mack: I believe Div. 4 was at this firehouse in the late 60s early 70s.  A chief I served with in the 41 Batt. got promoted to Deputy and was assigned to Div. 4.  I remember visitiing him there.  Chief John O'Neill: Captain L 157, BC Batt. 41, DC Div 4.
 

mack

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Messages
13,431
John - You are right.

Division 5 was organized at Engine 71 in the Bronx and was relocated to Engine 44.  It stayed there from 1906-1930 and then moved to Engine 80.

Division 4 was also organized at Engine 71 and later operated from 221 E 75 St firehouse at Engine 44 from 1930-1949 and then from 1956-1974. 

- Both these divisions were organized at Engine 71 in the early 1900s and moved frequently during their careers between the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens, often going back and forth between boros.

- Division 4 was organized in 1902 and assigned with: E 71; L 25; E 44; E 91; E 44; E 53; E 48; and E 48.  It was disbanded in 1997.

- Division 5 was organized in 1904 and operated from:  E 71; E 44; E 80; E 79; E 80; E 35; E 324; E 35; and E 324.  It was also disbanded in 1997.

- Engine 44 had a deputy chief in their quarters for over 60 years.



 
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Messages
911
Engine 35/Ladder 14/Thawing Apparatus 1/Battalion 12  firehouses  East Harlem

    Engine 35 organized 223 E 119th Street former firehouse volunteer Columbus Engine 35  1868
    Engine 35 moved to 209 E 122nd Street at Suburban Engine 37                                      1889
    Engine 35 moved to new firehouse 223 E 119th Street                                                    1891
    Engine 35 moved to new firehouse 2282 3rd Avenue with Thawing Apparatus 1                1974

    Suburban Ladder 14 organized 120 E 125th Street former firehouse Mechanics Ladder 7  1865
    Suburban Ladder 14 became Ladder 14                                                                        1868
    Ladder 14 moved to 209 E 122nd Street at Battalion 9                                                    1888
    Ladder 14 moved to new firehouse 120 E 125th Street                                                    1889
    Ladder 14 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue at Engine 35                                                        1975

    Thawing Unit 1 organized 223 E 119th Street at Engine 35                                            1957
    Thawing Unit 1 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue w/Engine 35                                                1974
    Thawing Unit 1 moved to 120 E 125th Street at Engine 36                                            1986
    Thawing Unit 1 moved to 145 W 100th Street at Engine 76                                            1987

    Battalion 12 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue at Engine 35                                                    1995


Mack, some additional info:

When Ladder 14 moved to 209 E 122nd St in 1888, Battalion 9 had already been long gone, having moved to 248 W 48th St in 1879.

Battalion 12 was also with Ladder 14 at 120 E 125th St from 1898 to 1903
 

mack

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Messages
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Thanks fdhistorian/johnd.  Looks like these East Harlem and Upper East Side locations should be:


    Engine 35 organized 223 E 119th Street former firehouse volunteer Columbus Engine 35  1868
    Engine 35 moved to 209 E 122nd Street at Suburban Engine 37                                      1889
    Engine 35 moved to new firehouse 223 E 119th Street                                                    1891
    Engine 35 moved to new firehouse 2282 3rd Avenue with Thawing Apparatus 1                1974

    Suburban Engine 36 organized 1849 Park Avenue (4th Ave)                                            1865
              (former quarters volunteer Pocahontas Engine 49)
    Suburban Engine 36 became Engine 36                                                                        1868
    Engine 36 moved to 104 E 126th St former quarters SEC 37                                          1893
    Engine 36 moved to new firehouse 1849 Park Avenue                                                    1894
    Engine 36 moved to 120 E 125th Street former quarters Ladder 14                                1975
    Engine 36 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue at Engine 35                                                        2000
    Engine 36 moved to 120 E 125th Street                                                                        2000
    Engine 36 disbanded                                                                                                  2003

    Engine 44 organized 221 E 75th Street                                                                          1881
    Engine 44 disbanded                                                                                                    1975
    Engine 44 reorganized 221 E 75th Street                                                                      1975

    Battalion 12 organized 133 W 99th Street alone w/o engine or truck                                1893
    Battalion 12 moved 120 E 125th Street at Ladder 14 former volunteer firehouse              1898
    Battalion 12 moved to 3431 White Plains Road at Engine 62                                            1903
    Battalion 12 moved to 120 E 125th Street at Ladder 14                                                  1904
    Battalion 12 moved to new firehouse 2282 3rd Avenue w/Engine 35                                1974
    Battalion 12 moved to 120 E 125th Street at Engine 36                                                  1990
    Battalion 12 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue at Engine 35                                                    1995
   
    Battalion 12-2 organized 120 E 125th Street at Ladder 14                                              1968
    Battalion 12-2 disbanded                                                                                              1969

    Suburban Ladder 14 organized 120 E 125th Street former volunteer firehouse                  1865
    Suburban Ladder 14 became Ladder 14                                                                        1868
    Ladder 14 moved to 209 E 122nd Street                                                                      1888
    Ladder 14 moved to new firehouse 120 E 125th Street                                                  1889
    Ladder 14 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue at Engine 35                                                        1975

    Division 5 at 221 E 75th Street at Engine 44                                                          1906-1930

    Division 4 at 221 E 75th Street at Engine 44                                  1930-1949 and 1956-1974

    Hydrant Service 4 organized 221 E 75th Street at Engine 44                                          1934
    Hydrant Service 4 became Thawing Unit 1                                                                    1957
    Thawing Unit 1 organized 223 E 119th Street at Engine 35                                            1957
    Thawing Unit 1 moved to 2282 3rd Avenue w/Engine 35                                                1974
    Thawing Unit 1 moved to 120 E 125th Street at Engine 36                                            1986
    Thawing Unit 1 moved to 145 W 100th Street at Engine 76                                            1987

    FDR 2 at 221 E 75th Street at Engine 44                                        1998-2000 and 2001-2004

    Hazardous Material Technician Unit organized 221 E 75th St at Engine 44                        2004







 
Joined
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Messages
911
The movement of Division Chiefs is not so much a history of relocations as it is a history of renumbering the division.  You can see it when you look at it from a particular firehouse location.

For example:

3134 Park Ave, Bronx, quarters of Engine 71, has almost always been a division quarters.

In 1902, it was home of the newly created 4th Division.

On December 30, 1903, DC3 was renumbered as 4, so on March 01, 1904, the DC at E71 was re-established as DC5.  (Not sure about why there was a two month gap.)

In 1906, DC5 at 71s was renumbered 6.  Original DC5 went to quarters of Engine 44 at 221 E 75th St, another firehouse that would be a long term division quarters.

In 1907, DC6 at 71s was renumbered 7.  Original DC6 went to quarters of Engine 80 at 503 W 139th St, yet another firehouse that would be a long term division quarters.

DC7 at 71s moved briefly to E82 in 1948, then returned to 71 in 1949.  It moved out again in 1951, quartering at 82 and 48 before returning to 71 in 1991 at their Melrose Ave firehouse.


221 E 75th St, Manhattan, quarters of E44, became the home of DC5 in 1906. 

DC5 at 44s was renumbered 4 in 1930.  Original DC5 went to the quarters of E80, earlier home of DC6 until 1918.  DC4 and DC5 remained at their respective locations until 1949. 

DC5 returned to E80 in 1951 after a two year stay at E79.  E80 was home to DC5 until 1990.

3134 Park Ave, Bronx ? E71 ? later 720 Melrose Ave was home for:

Division 4 1902-1903
Division 5 1904-1906
Division 6 1906-1907
Division 7 1907-1948 and 1949-1951 and 1991-1995
Division 3 1995-1997
Division 7 1997 to present

221 E 75th St, Manhattan ? E44 was home for:

Division 5 1906-1930
Division 4 1930-1949 and 1956-1974

503 W 139th St, Manhattan ? E80 was home for:

Division 6 1907-1918
Division 5 1930-1949 and 1951-1990
 

mack

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Messages
13,431
Ladder 107/Bn 29/Ladder 175 - former quarters - 79 New Jersey Avenue  East New York, Brooklyn

    Ladder 7 Brooklyn Fire Department organized 104 Jamaica Avenue                                  1886
    Ladder 7 BFD moved to new firehouse 79 New Jersey Avenue w/District Engineer 9 BFD  1890
    Ladder 7 became Ladder 7 FDNY                                                                                  1898
    Ladder 7 became Ladder 57                                                                                        1899
    Ladder 57 became Ladder 107                                                                                    1913
    Ladder 107 moved to new firehouse w/Engine 225 799 Lincoln Avenue                            1970

    District Engineer 9 BFD moved to 79 New Jersey Avenue at Ladder 7 BFD                        1896
    District Engineer 9 became Battalion 9 FDNY                                                                1898
    Battalion 9 became Battalion 29                                                                                    1898
    Battalion 29 disbanded                                                                                                1906
    Battalion 29 reorganized 998 Liberty Avenue at Engine 236                                            1969
    Battalion 29 moved to new firehouse 799 Lincoln Avenue w/E 225 L 107                          1970

    Ladder 175 organized 79 New Jersey Avenue former firehouse Ladder 107                      1970
    Ladder 175 moved to new firehouse 165 Bradford Street w/Engine 332 (from Tinhouse)  1985


Ladder 7 Brooklyn Fire Department


Ladder 107 1922:




Ladder 107:










799 Lincoln Avenue firehouse E 225/TL 107/Bn 39:




165 Bradford Street firehouse E 332/L 175/RAC 2:


77 New Jersey Avenue former firehouse:





Brooklyn Fire Department History:
"Hook and Ladder Company 7:  The First in the Annexed District

Truck No. 7 is located on New Jersey Avenue, between Fulton Avenue and the
Jamaica Plank Road.  It was organized on Aug. 4, 1886, the day the town of
New Lots was made a part of Brooklyn.  The first home of the company was in
a little two-story frame building on the Jamaica Plank Road near New Jersey
Avenue, which was fitted up for temporary quarters.  For nearly three years
the company remained there, until the present fine structure was built and
ready for occupancy.

On the night before the law annexing New Lots to the city of Brooklyn went
into effect, twelve tried and true men were delegated to go out to East New
York and do service with the new truck company.  Captain Peter Campbell,
for many years in charge of Truck No. 3, was placed in command, and as he
has often said since, he was surrounded by a force of men that seldom had an
equal and never a superior in the Department.  The hour of midnight
announced to the men that their duty had begun.  Provided with a new and
perfectly equipped Hayes Truck and a spanking trio of horses, the men
started out under the most favorable auspices.  How well the trust reposed
in them has been discharged is. best attested by the esteem in which the men
are held by the residents and tax-payers. There was of course some
opposition to the Paid Department in the new ward, but it only came from the
members of the Volunteer Fire Department.  For a long time the latter had
performed all the fire duty in the town and looked upon the work and
attendant honor as theirs by right.  But it did not take the residents and
tax-payers long to appreciate the change for the better, and while they felt
grateful to the volunteers for what they had done the introduction of the
Paid Department of Brooklyn was hailed as a great boon, the effect of which
has been felt since in the large number of houses that have been erected.
The territory covered by the company is a large, growing and important one.
It includes all the Twenty-sixth Ward and the upper end of the Eighteenth
Ward.  The company responds to thirty-six first-alarm calls and to twenty
on the second-alarm. Last  year the company attended over 100 fires, the
largest of which was in the dry goods and  furnishers' house of Bourke &
Ryan and the adjoining houses, with a loss of about $100.000.  Truck No. 7
was the first company at the scene, and owing to the hard and intelligent
work performed by the men the fire was limited in its extent.  Among the
large and important structures in the ward are the car houses and terminal
stations of. the Kings County and Brooklyn Elevated Railway Companies, the
car houses and freight depot of the Long Island Railroad Company, the Long
Island Water Supply Company's plant, the House of the Good Shepherd, St.
Malachi's House, and several large manufacturing concerns.  The men of the
company are well drilled and disciplined. Excellent time is made in hitching
up and getting out to a fire.  On several tests the "turn was done" in
twelve seconds, although the horses necessarily have far to go on account of
the length of the truck.  Among the members of the company are many
veterans in the business, together with a sprinkling of young men of brawn
and muscle."  from 'Our Firemen - Official History of the BFD'

Ladder 107:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv-2ggkgBw8

Ladder 175:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDIjPfyRcCo

E 332 responding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by-Gq8jxl3A


East New York, Brooklyn:
http://www.tapeshare.com/

http://theweeklynabe.com/2012/07/20/john-pitkin-east-new-york-brooklyn-history/

http://forgotten-ny.com/2005/06/brownsville-and-east-new-york-brooklyn/







 
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Apr 25, 2013
Messages
156
Great post Mack, brings back a lot of fond memories of great friends and firemen now long gone.  May they rest in well deserved peace. Needs one correction. That battalion was the 39 not the 29 and still in service. I rode the sideboards on that old Walter rig many times while on interchange with Engine 225 for AFID. Thank you my friend.
 
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May 6, 2010
Messages
16,171
In more modern times (well '60s/'70s) the 39 had been w/236 on Liberty Av ......the Lincoln Av house was built for the 29 which was kind of a 2nd section for the 39....when the 29 was disbanded the 39 then moved over to Lincoln Av that is why the 39 lettering over the apparatus door is different.....I was a LT in 332 for awhile on Bradford St...in the picture of 332/175 the steel rolldown all the way to the left is another bay that also opens in the rear parking lot & goes out onto Miller Av like a drive thru....this was designed as a Preventative Maintenance location with a lift capable of lifting ENGs & LADs for work however when designed someone did not do their homework because there was nowhere near enough cieling height to do this so it was nevr used for that purpose...over the years it was used for Chief's Rig maintenance & also for the Tank Truck Inspection Unit....Bradford St was also the orignal qtrs of Rescue Services which was the forerunner of SOC back when Rescue Services was organized there around '87 it only consisted of a BC a LT & a few FFs ...one Chief's Rig & a messenger van...nothing like the empire it is today as SOC...after Recue Services moved out in '89 the Chiefs office was vacant until Safety BN*2 was organized there....after that was disbanded RAC*2 moved in i was always surprised that the 44*BN never moved there...the ENG & LAD Offices were on the apparatus floor so no up & down stairs/poles all day & night.....the heat in the bldg was never good especially on the apparatus floor....during the winter frozen hose would not thaw out on the app floor so it was hung in an enclosed polehole w/an electric heater at the base....in contrast to the demise of 107/175s old qtrs on NJ Av  225/332's former qtrs on Liberty Av remained intact & undamaged for many years....when 332 moved to Bradford St Salvage 2 moved from Bergen St until they were disbanded ....part of the reason that the Liberty Av FH was not vandalized even though it remained vacant for years was that there was an enclave of Old School Italians who remained living there after the rest of ENY went downhill they kept the block in order.       
 
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