After the huge fire in 1866 that wiped out much of the Portland peninsula, people in the greater Portland area were rightfully concerned about preventing disasters in the future. It was a regular topic of discussion in South Portland (known then as Cape Elizabeth) and the debate over public water and fire protection really heated up in the early 1890s.

In addition to being a factor in the eventual division of the town (with the southern portion splitting off to form a new town), the desire for fire protection led the residents in the northern villages of Cape Elizabeth to begin forming their own volunteer hose companies.

With the northern residents of the town already winning the battle over public water, fire hydrants began to be installed in 1892. As the fire hydrants were going in, residents in the northern villages/neighborhoods began the discussion of establishing their own hose companies.

Residents of Ferry Village began circulating petitions in the summer of 1892, followed by Willard residents in September. Ferry Village was the first to officially establish their hose company – they originally formed as the Volunteer Hose Company No. 1 on Sept. 21, 1892.

They would later change the name to South Portland Hose and Ladder Co. No. 1.

In Willard, a group of men led by grocer Willis F. Strout met in September 1892, to discuss forming their own company. It was on Oct. 1, 1892, that they established what was now the second of the hose companies in Cape Elizabeth, calling theirs, Willard Hose Company No. 2.

The charter members of the company were Albus R. Angell, Charles A. Cobb, George F. Cobb, Charles E. Hatch, Edward S. Hatch, Sumner P. Loveitt, Joseph Martin, Albert Smith, William H. Smith, Charles W. Strout, Willis F. Strout, William H. White, Edward R. Wiley, Charles F. Willard, Charles W. Willard and Sherman Willard.

They elected Willis Strout to serve as their first captain and he continued to serve as captain through 1920.

Of course, one of the reasons to form a hose company, in a time when there was no town fire department, was to have the community come together and buy fire protection equipment, which at the time would have meant things like hoses, nozzles, hydrant wrenches, buckets, ladders, protective gear, and some type of cart or wagon to carry the equipment.

The men of Willard Hose Company immediately set about plans for construction of a building to hold the equipment. Enoch Pillsbury, who owned the property at the corner of (what is now known as) Preble and Thompson streets, offered to loan the use of some of the land on his property along Preble Street. The company immediately began construction of the hose house on Nov. 7, 1892, and completed the building in short order. On Feb. 4, 1893, the company acquired its first 500 feet of fire hose, which they mounted on a hand-drawn reel.

The Willard Hose Company responded to its first call on May 7, 1893. The damage was minimal, but it did give the company the chance to start learning some skills. On Oct. 4, 1893, the call company spent $60 and bought a nearly 300-pound bell that they installed atop the hose house for use in sounding the alarm to the community in the event of fire.

The first really large fire that Willard Hose Company responded to was the March, 1894, fire in Knightville – it started in the stable of Matthews Grain Store, killing two horses and burning the building to the ground, before spreading to the Oasis Hall next door on E Street.

The Oasis Hall had been used by many secret societies and there were members of the Red Men in the building when the fire broke out. They were reportedly lucky to make it out of the hall before that building, too, was consumed and destroyed. The massive fire was threatening adjacent homes and businesses, as well as the E Street School next door, but the response from the various fire companies was sufficient to get control of the fire and put it out before it did any more major damage.

As the company acquired more hose, they replaced the hand-drawn reel with a hose cart, a horse-drawn wagon. While they could use any horse available, it was often Clint Twitchell’s horse that was used, as he lived right across from the hose house. In a story that has been passed down through the years, supposedly Clint Twitchell’s horse died on the way to a fire in Ferry Village, and the members of the company just continued on by grabbing the cart and pulling it to the fire themselves.

Eventually, motorized vehicles began to replace horse-drawn wagons. The Willard Hose Company’s first such vehicle was a Peerless seven-passenger car that was converted into use as a hose truck.

We’ll continue on next week with more on the Willard Hose Company and its first captain, Willis F. Strout.

Note to readers: South Portland still has two volunteer call companies, one in the Willard neighborhood and one in Thornton Heights, and both are in need of people. The city does provide some compensation, so these are now considered paid/on-call positions. The city of South Portland also provides all of the necessary equipment and training. If this sounds interesting, contact Capt. Phil Viola for more information at 749-5703 or by email at philvi@southportland.org.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is executive director of the South Portland Historical Society. She can be reached at sphistory04106@gmail.com.

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