History of Somerville Lincoln Hose
Company No. 4
Lincoln Hose Company became
a part of the Fire Company here in 1891 and was organized by a group of
the youngest men interested in local fire-fighting at the time. Those who
formed the company and gave it its great start were about 20 youths who
had held membership in what was then known as the Engine Company Cadets.
After a series of differences with the older men of the Engine Company
, who displayed about the usual amount of contempt felt for "kids," the
Cadets broke away from the paternal organization. It was William H. Cawley
Sr. And Thomas I. Honeyman who took the fledgling fire-fighters in hand
and lent their personality and influence to start them off on the proper
course.
A club room was opened, furnishing
a place for the young firemen to congregate, and a small hose jumper equipped
with 500 feet of hose and housed in a little shed in the rear of Layton’s
old blacksmith shop on Woodlawn Street, the new company was ready to help
defend the town against fires. By slow but sure stages, this organization
attained prominence, and soon erected a three-story headquarters building
on Warren Street, which was used until completion of what is now the Lincoln
Hose Firehouse. The old building was sold to the Veterans of Foreign Wars
in 1969, and the new building was dedicated September 14, 1974. Always
an independent bunch of fire fighters, the new $100,000 headquarters of
Lincoln Hose was built by the firemen with funds from the company’s treasury
without any cost to local taxpayers.
The Links had two fine teams
in the days of horse-drawn apparatus. Maud and Grace, beautiful white mares,
served the company 1901 until 1910, when they were replaced by a team of
dapple grays, Duke and Barron. This team pulled the company’s chemical
and hose wagon until it was motorized. Lincoln Hose had only one chief
driver of its teams. Larry Austin joined the company in 1900 and was made
head driver in 1901. He handled both teams of horses and was chief driver
of the motor truck until his death.
In 1935, the Packard with
the company’s chemical and hose wagon mounted on top was replaced with
a LaFrance triple combination 600 GPM apparatus. This truck carried a foam
generator and was the first truck in the Borough to have a mounted deluge
gun. In line with the Borough’s policy of purchasing a new apparatus for
each company after 20 years, the "Links" gained a more modern 1000 GPM
American LaFrance pumper in 1955. In 1975, a 1250 GPM Mack pumper was purchased.
A 1993 E-One Hush 1500 GPM Pumper with pre-piped foam and a ten-man cab
is in service today.
Lincoln
Hose Company No. 4 Today
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