Ashland Fire Department Part 2
On August 10, 1871, the town voted to authorize the purchase of a steam
fire engine, together with whatever equipment was necessary for it. At the same time a suitable engine house was authorized. A proposal to establish a hook and ladder company was presented to the voters at an annual meeting in 1872. The selectmen investigated the cost of purchasing the proposed hook and ladder, and found that this would involve the appropriation of more money than the town was willing to spend. Instead of dropping the matter, the selectmen persuaded the neighboring town of Marlboro to lend them its hook and ladder apparatus, and volunteer labor, working at top speed, constructed a duplicate from this model, which, all together, cost Ashland no more than $500 and detained the Marlboro hook and ladder from its home quarters less than 48 hours.
Meanwhile a small frame building had been constructed on the triangular lot of land near the railroad station [present location of the Community National Bank] for the steam fire engine and the new apparatus. This was known as Engine Hall. By a special vote of the town its use was strictly limited to the legitimate purposes of the fire department. A fire bell, secured from the Holbrook foundry in Medway at a cost of $500, was placed in Engine Hall in 1878. This bell continued to be used as the town "fire alarm" until the siren was installed in the new engine house in 1928. The bell, not now used, hangs in the new structure.
With the arrival of the steam operated Magunko engine, the old Magunko was stored in a basement of the town hall. The subsequent history of this old hand tub, winner of many competitions for the local department, is discouraging. After it had been in storage for some years the members of the new engine company raised the sum of $100, with which they proposed to purchase the ancient apparatus from the town, to use for "recreational purposes." The town fathers, for reasons which are not now apparent, declined to accept this offer, and instead sold the Magunko to Perry & Enslin for a much smaller sum, with the express provision that it be broken up before being removed from the town hall. Thus passed Magunko I, which in its earlier days had been the initial cause of the long-protracted quarrel between Hopkinton and Ashland.
The second Magunko engine received more appropriate treatment. Although it had long since lost its original silver plating, it was still outstanding as a "museum piece" when the Ashland department was motorized, and was purchased by Fred Stone, of Sudbury, then the district fire warden.
In 1918 the town appointed a committee to investigate the cost of securing a combination chemical truck for the department, but no immediate action resulted. In 1922 a triple combination Maxim engine was purchased at a cost of $9,000 and at the same time the department replaced much of the fire hose then in use. This new equipment made necessary the immediate consideration of plans for enlarged housing facilities, and for some years opinion was divided as to whether the old engine house should be moved to another location and enlarged, or a new fire station be erected.
In 1924 the town approved a plan to remodel the existing engine house, but not to move it. This measure proved inadequate to meet the requirements of the department, and in 1927 a committee was authorized to secure estimates and plans at a cost of $25,000, was completed and turned over to the town by the committee in 1928. The Warren Telechron Company donated the illuminated dial clock which adorns it. In 1937 a committee was appointed to consider the purchase of a combined pump and ladder truck, and $10,000 was appropriated the following year for this purpose.
Directions – February 1976