Preserving Firefighting History, One Piece at a Time

This installment of "Preserving Firefighting History" has roots in Piermont, Nanuet, Pearl River and Park Ridge, NJ.

Several months ago, a seller on eBay listed two old photographs of firefighters pulling a hand-pumper out of a firehouse; they were taken by a photographer named Emil Ullrich from Pearl River. The photographs were definitely original and taken in the early 1900s, but there was no indication that the firefighters were actually from Pearl River. The firehouse in the first photograph was unfamiliar to me, and without having a photograph of Pearl River’s original firehouse to reference, I was unable to determine if they were in fact from Pearl River or somewhere else locally.

According to Pearl River Hook & Ladder Company's website, “The first company to form in Pearl River was the Hook and Ladder Company, which was chartered on July 10, 1903. The first engine the company used was a hand-pulled pumper that was stationed at Joseph Fishers Livery Stable on Central Avenue. The original fire house that was constructed in 1904, was a two story wooden structure that mysteriously burned to the ground in 1906.”

With this information it was certainly possible that the photograph was taken outside Joseph Fishers Livery Stable, but doubtful it was their original firehouse as that was wooden and the photograph is clearly a stone building. I decided to take a chance and bid on the photographs—and was lucky enough to win both auctions.

While waiting for the photographs to come in the mail, I asked my father Tom to help me research the photographer, Emil Ullrich. Emil was listed in the 1905 U.S. Census as being employed as a machinist and living in Spring Valley. The 1910 U.S. Census also listed him as being a machinist but now living on Pearl Street in Pearl River. I was unable to find out any additional information on Emil.

When the photographs arrived in the mail, I scanned the photos digitally and posted them on my website to see where my fellow firefighters thought they may be from. Not two hours after posting the images, Michael Sheehy, a member of the Pleasantville Fire Department who formerly lived in Park Ridge, NJ, posted a reply with a photo of an article from the March 15, 2010 issue of the Pascack Press showing the same exact photograph of the firefighters pulling the hand pumper in the field that I now owned. The photograph was taken from the book Lingering Images of Park Ridge and depicted members of Colony Hose Company of the Park Ridge, NJ Fire Department “hauling their man-powered engine, which was acquired in March 1907 from the Nanuet Fire Company after the latter bought a new engine.”

Although the photograph was not from Pearl River, I was still excited because it had Nanuet’s hand-pumper in it. The gooseneck hand-pumper was built in 1846 by James Smith and originally purchased by the Piermont Fire Department in 1851 for a cost of $630.10 before being sold to Nanuet in 1862.

Now that I knew the first photograph was of Colony Hose, I had to assume the second was also Colony Hose. A quick search of the Park Ridge Fire Department’s website revealed that the photograph was in fact taken in front of Colony Hose’s first firehouse on Colony Avenue. The site reads: “In 1906, the Colony Hose Company #1 was formed to provide additional fire protection to the residents on the West Side of town. Their first firehouse was a barn, owned by a Mr. Healy on Colony Ave. The rumor is that this barn burned down forcing the men to build another firehouse just west of Fifth Street. The stone arches around the doors can still be seen on that building, which is also a private residence today.”

Knowing that the firehouse was still standing and now a private residence, I had to take a drive to Park Ridge to see it for myself. When driving on Colony Avenue, you can’t miss the house—it sticks out like a sore thumb. Of course the old bay doors have been long sealed up with stone, but the original arches are still in place. The corner stone of the building is still there as well, but unfortunately the date has been removed.

It is unknown what happened to the hand-pumper after it left Colony Hose Company, but at some point is was donated to the New York City Fire Museum and is currently on exhibit at the Rockland County Volunteer Fire Services Museum located at the Rockland County Fire training Center in Pomona.