Fire Department Series - 2 by Pete Zizka 7-27-2024

The members of the fire companies were affectionately known as “The Alerts”, “The Excelsiors”, “The Monties”,and the “Hilltops” and the companies’ events were closely followed by citizens and reporters alike. The members of the companies were given small stipends to cover some of their personal expenses while volunteering. A newspaper story from 1878 mentioned, “At the Borough meeting last Saturday it was voted to pay the Chief Engineer $20 a year, each assistant $10, and each fireman $5. This will probably be satisfactory to all parties for the present, and anybody who finds fault with paying the firemen this small sum ought to burn up at the first opportunity.” In 1875, three years after the Fire Department was formed, it consisted of three companies (Excelsior Hook and Ladder, Alert Hose Company No. 1 and Montgomery Hose Company No. 2), a Chief Engineer, three Assistant Engineers, six fire-police and about 100 firefighters. Each of the companies had a Foreman and an Assistant Foreman. In some cases, a departmental Assistant Engineer also served as a company Foreman. In the beginning, Fire Department members elected their chiefs – Potter, Billings and Charles Daniels. After that, the borough, and later the City, appointed the Chief and Assistant Engineers while the companies voted for their own Foremen and Assistants. Charles Leonard became the first appointed chief of the Fire Department Leonard was one of the charter members of Fountain Fire Company No.2. He then transferred to the Alerts and was Foreman of the Alerts for two years. He became First Assistant Engineer under Charles Daniels and moved to Chief when Daniels was appointed as Willimantic’s Postmaster. In 1891, an article in The Courant said that “the borough has one of the best volunteer departments in the state”. At a borough meeting that same year, it was voted to increase his salary. It was said of Leonard that, “system and discipline are features in Chief Leonard’s make-up and with these, he combines the qualities so essential in directing a firefighting force : coolness, decision, courage, judgment and experience”. In 1893, with Willimantic now incorporated as a City, things began to change in the Fire Department. The borough had stopped the practice of department members voting for chief when the Borough’s Warden and Burgesses appointed Chief Leonard. Then, from 1893 on, the City government continued to make appointments. The individual companies were not happy. They had always engaged in competitions such as which company had the best response to calls or put on the best dance or fair or had the finest parade uniforms. Now they began to compete over who should be appointed as Chief Engineer of the Department….which had now become a yearly appointment by the Mayor and Council. The competition often became bitter and as well as political. Willimantic’s first Mayor, George Harrington, wisely appointed Chief Leonard to continue in the position he had held for three years. But, on December 6, 1893, Oscar O. Tanner, a Democrat, was elected Mayor. At the meeting of the new city government on December 17, it was reported that “the question of a successor to Chief Engineer C.E.Leonard of the fire department bids to become a bone of contention for the new city administration…Members of the Board of Engineers are supposed to be in line of promotion but their politics is against them this year.”  Leonard was a Republican and Tanner did not want to appoint him. Newspaper reports stated that the Alerts and the Hooks “stand solidly for the re-appointment of the present Chief Engineer Leonard, of the fire department and his associates. During the past twenty years the head of the fire department has never been subject to the fluctuation of politics” Still, on December 21, 1897, Mayor Tanner appointed Luke Flynn as Chief Engineer”. Little information is available regarding Flynn’s short tenure as Chief. In the December, 1899, Republican William Grant defeated Tanner. He immediately “deposed” Flynn and returned Leonard to his position as Chief. December,1890, newspaper accounts mentioned that there was “unusual interest in the appointments of Mayor Grant, especially regarding the appointment of the Chief of the fire department”. click on photo to see larger version

<<HOME>>                    <<back to Historical Articles index>>