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At the turn of the century, the citizens of Rockledge looked to the Pennsylvania
Fire Company for fire protection. The company was housed on Fillmore St. in the
city of Philadelphia, just at the border of the two municipalities. At the time,
the company provided fire protection for Fox Chase as well as the Borough.
On the evening of March 6, 1903, a meeting was held at what was
then the Northeast Shrine Club (where the First Union bank now stands). Burgess
Charles Nahm called the meeting for the purpose of discussing the ways and
means of establishing a fire company that would be propriety of the Borough
of Rockledge. A total of twenty-nine men present at the meeting showed a willingness
to become members of the fire organization and voted unanimously to do so.
They agreed to organize under the name of the Rockledge Volunteer Fire Company
No.1 of Rockledge, Pennsylvania. An election was held to fill the positions
of the Company Officers, a Captain of the fire fighting force and a Board of
Directors. One week later the company met again to establish the company’s
by-laws. The first Board of Directors meeting was held on Monday evening, March
16, 1903 and they established the finance, property, entertainment, audit and
building committees. At the end of March 1903, The Pennsylvania Fire Company,
which had been dissolved, presented their apparatus and equipment to the Company.
Since the original firehouse was located within the borders of
Philadelphia , it was necessary to find a new home for the newly established
organization. An offer for a firehouse site came in May of 1903 when Mr. Earhardt
offered a Sylvania Ave. property for $350.00. His terms were $50.00 down, and
the remaining when they found it possible. The balance was to carry a 5% rate
of interest. The entertainment committee then planned a fair to raise money
for the purchase of this property. At the May 1903 meeting of the company,
the members decided to postpone the chartering of the company since its own
financial and organizational problems did not warrant the court expenditure
at that time. The company had received an alarm bell when the Pennsylvania
Fire Company disbanded. However, since they did not have a firehouse on which
to mount it, the fire company temporarily mounted it on the Rockledge Toll
Gate Building . Water supply was one of the major problems facing the company
and a committee was appointed to get this very essential fire-fighting element
to the borough through a water system utilizing fire hydrants.
Financial problems continued to stifle the progress of the new
company until an anonymous donation of $50.00 was received. Money had been
coming in slowly and now the company had money for the down payment on the
lot. With this newfound enthusiasm they also decided to apply for a charter.
At the June 1, 1903 meeting, Captain Schlett reported the Rockledge Vol. Fire
Company had answered its first call. The alarm was a defective chimney at the
home of Harry Sheetz, at 139 Central Avenue . Also at this meeting, plans were
submitted for a firehouse. The building was to be 14 feet wide and the labor
was to be mostly voluntary. Although the firehouse was not quite finished,
the ladder truck was housed in it on July 4, 1903.
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