Stories from the History of Nashua’s Police and Fire-Rescue Departments.
Nashua had their first piece of fire-fighting equipment, the T.W. Gillis hand tub. The bad news was, it was hand-drawn. The good news was, at the time, the city was relatively small. It was concentrated around the top of what became Library Hill, down Main Street, spilling onto Water, Factory, High, and Park streets, Pearson Ave., and Thayer Court. In quick succession, Temple, Amory, East and West Hollis and Canal Streets were added. Other streets already existed but were sparsely settled.
In 1826, the concept of Fire Wards was first introduced. These were volunteer citizens who were given the responsibility of setting up orderly procedures and preparations to deal with fires. One newspaper article mentions the use of a standardized fire bucket.
On February 1, 1834, the first mention of a local fire department and its equipment appeared in the Nashua Telegraph: “…the village raised money by subscription to purchase a suction engine (a hand tub) and sufficient lengths of hose.” This would become Lafayette Engine No. 3, the first apparatus under the auspices of the city. The first two hand pumpers were actually purchased by and belonged to the mills. On June 30, 1835, the new fire engine (hand tub) known as the Lafayette Engine No. 3 arrived in the city.
In 1835, the Boston and Lowell Railroad was incorporated. It didn’t take long to realize that it made sense to run the line north to the NH state line and connect with another company headed south from Nashua. In 1837 the Nashua and Lowell Railroad was incorporated. One year later, trains started to roll; first stopping at what was then a temporary station at Temple and Amory streets at a spot then-known as the “Great Elm” which is now a small traffic circle. Then on December 23, 1838, the line went all the way up to Main Street and stopped at a place people then knew as Union Square, but became better known as Railroad Square. Today, Dunkin Donuts marks the spot once occupied by the train station.
On April 15, 1836, a news item in the Nashua Gazette reads: “The Nashua Fire Club and the Lafayette Engine Company No. 3 celebrated their anniversary by a supper at the Washington House.” The Washington House was one of Nashua’s premier hotels and taverns located on the corner of Main and Factory streets. Also, the term “Nashua Fire Club” would intimate that the pre-natal version of the Nashua Fire Dept. was considered as no more than a social organization and was not yet taken seriously as an integral part of the city’s infrastructure.
But the members of the “Nashua Fire Club” were indeed serious and on July 2, 1836, an organizational meeting is held at the Washington House to see if the citizens of Nashua would support a full-fledged fire department. Apparently, the results were positive and plans for an official fire department was begun.
On January 1, 1837, what started out as Dunstable, NH, officially becomes Nashua, NH, prompting the need for an official town hall. Residents south of the Nashua River thought the center of city government should be in their area and thus the town hall be located there. Those north of the river felt the honor should go to them. Acrimonious spats broke out during town meetings on the subject. In 1842 the matter came to a vote and those on the south side of the river prevailed. They would build a town hall on the east side of Main Street between Temple Street and what is today known as the Library Walk, adjacent to the Oddfellows Building. It didn’t take long for “north-enders” to strike back. They quickly applied to the NH State Legislature to be incorporated as a separate town. On June 23, 1842, the town of Nashville, NH, was born from the Nashua River going north. Franklin Pierce, later to be America’s 14th President in 1853, served as legal counsel for Nashville.
With a growing number of citizens, fires became news. One of the first public reports of a fire was reported on January 28, 1837. The newspaper simply states, “Building fire, southern part of the city – hand tubs were used to fight the bobbin shop fire. The fire completely spread through the building consisting of a three-story wooden structure.”
On August 29, 1837, an organizational meeting of the Lafayette Fire Company was held and on September 1, 1837, the organization of a municipal fire department was complete. This included Engine 1 purchased by the Nashua Corporation, and Engine 2 purchased by the Jackson Corporation. These were apparently stored on mill property. The Lafayette purchased by Nashua citizens by subscription, was housed on Park Street and maintained by the city. (This apparently was not a fire station as is commonly known, but perhaps just a barn or shed which could have been owned either privately or by the city.) The day was marked with a… “grand display of the whole department with their engines, hose carriages, with torches and other apparatus, accompanied by the Fire Wards and an excellent band of music. After parading through our principal streets, they exhibited a specimen of their skill by deluging several of our edifices.”
From this point forward, until firefighting became a full-time job, it would be primarily the self-employed who fought Nashua’s fires – those who could drop what they were doing at a moment’s notice and respond to a fire. Not that those who worked in the mills weren’t civic-minded. But the very nature of mill-work would not tolerate frequent and sudden absences. It was the blacksmiths, cabinet makers, grocers, masons, paper hangers, tinsmiths and boarding house keepers who generally answered the call, not unlike the volunteer firefighters of today.
Excerpted from “Nashua’s Bravest: The History of Firefighting in Nashua NH”
About the Author: Yester-Heros” author Gary Ledoux grew up in Nashua’s Crown Hill area, attending Nashua schools and graduating from Nashua High in 1970. He attended NH Vo-Tech for a time, then moved to Amherst, then Manchester, and Weare. He served as a volunteer on the Amherst Fire Dept from 1974 to 1977. A career in the automotive business took him to Florida and then to southern California. After 48 years, he retired in 2017, moving back to Florida with his wife, Rachel, and two dogs. He has published seven books, including two about Nashua history, and has been a contributing editor or contributor to 10 different magazines.