Mount Union borough

Horse power, pre-1903

Photograph not reproduced here. The image that goes with this story is held by huntingdoncountyhistory.com and its credit does not permit republication, so it is cited rather than copied. See the original.

Fire protection in Mount Union before 1903, when getting to the blaze depended on hooves and volunteer grit.

The date is exact. Charles H. Welch, writing six years afterwards, records that the Mount Union Fire Department was organized on 28 July 1903, and that by 1909 it had about fifty members who had “enlisted their services voluntarily for the extinguishing of public fires.”

He names the whole slate. Samuel S. Mosser was president, R. O. Johnson vice president, Stewart A. Kyper secretary, Arthur Johnson assistant secretary, Frank B. Davis financial secretary, G. B. M. Kepler treasurer, Charles Wenzel chief and Frank Moore assistant chief.

Welch also says what they were working with: “A suitable equipment for the extinguishing of fires is much in need by the local fire department, but with what apparatus they have they have done” well. Fifty volunteers, not enough kit, and a town that had trebled in nine years.

Salute to every firefighter who has served this town since.

From the record

Passages about this subject, quoted from county histories now in the public domain. Each one names the book and the position in the text so it can be checked. Spelling is as printed.

Accessions to the number were made at each town along the route. At Alexandria salutes were fired by the citizens and responded to by a cannon from the boat. Williamsburg was reached at ten o'clock P.M. The houses were illuminated, and the arrival of the little vessel greeted with music and volleys of musketry. Here the passengers tarried the night. At ten o'clock on Wednesday the "James Clarke," towed by four horses, left its moorings, and, in company with escorts from Frankstown and Hollidaysburg, proceeded westward. At Frankstown the fleet met a cordial reception. Here the visitors, numbering about three hundred, dined, and then set out for Hollidaysburg, which point was reached about sunset. In the evening the houses were illuminated, a ball given, and a public meeting held. At the latter, John Scott, of Alexandria, presided, assisted by Thomas Jackson and Henry Beaver as vice-presidents. Samuel Royer and Joseph Adams acted as segretaries. Resolutions commending the policy of the State in regard to internal improvements, congratulating the people on their progress, the contractors for the prompt-and faithful 36 HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. execution of their contracts, etc., reported by a committee consisting: of David R. Porter, John Cresswell, J. George Miles, James M.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 250,981 of the scanned text

Checked against the record. SOURCED, from a page image of the book rather than its OCR, which had the chapter only as an index entry. CONFIRMED, Welch page 334: “The Mount Union Fire Department was organized July 28, 1903. At the present time there are about 50 members, who have enlisted their services voluntarily for the extinguishing of public fires.” The page had said fire protection “before 1903” with nothing behind it. The year was right and can now be given to the day. ADDED: the first slate of officers, all named on that page — Samuel S. Mosser president, R. O. Johnson vice president, Stewart A. Kyper secretary, Arthur Johnson assistant secretary, Frank B. Davis financial secretary, G. B. M. Kepler treasurer, Charles Wenzel chief, Frank Moore assistant chief. And Welch's own complaint that the department badly needed equipment, which is a more honest picture than a salute on its own. A CROSS-CHECK THAT HELD. Charles Wenzel appears as fire chief here, and independently on this site's page about the Harbison-Walker works at full steam in 1909, which describes him as chief of the Mount Union fire department and the borough's street commissioner. Two pages built from different sources agree about the same man in the same year.

Sources