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Department History
The Peekskill Volunteer Fire Department started before Peekskill had a charter for a municipal government. The initial state legislation created a fire district in 1816. In 1826 the boundaries of that district were enlarged giving rise to the first village charter in 1839, 13 years after the formation of the oldest company, Columbian Engine.
On that day in June 1826, when Colombian Engine Company was organized, the population of Peekskill was approximately 1,000 residents.
The fire companies in the early days were small units of about 15 to 25 men. At the time, there were not many men available, but large numbers were not needed because there were very few structures that could burn down.
Peekskill Hook & Ladder Company, later renamed Cortlandt Hook & Ladder, was the second company and was organized in 1831. Washington Engine Company No. 2 started in 1840 and Cataract Hose, the original name of Columbian Hose Company, was formed in 1848. Founded in succeeding years were Eagle, or Independence, Engine Company, and Lady Washington Hose Company in 1852. Eagle was disbanded in 1868 and Lady Washington in 1875.
Centennial Hose Company No. 4 was formed in 1876 and the Peekskill Fire Patrol, the youngest of the present six companies, was organized in 1923.
Three of the companies, Columbian Engine, Columbian Hose and Cortlandt Hook & Ladder were located on Park Street in shed-like buildings until a brick firehouse was constructed in 1863. Cortlandt Hook & Ladder moved to its Main Street building in 1905, the others remained on Park Street until the building was razed for urban renewal.
Washington Engine Company was stationed on what was originally known as Cross Street (later to be known as Mabie Street and now Nelson Avenue) on the east side until the west side site was purchased in 1851 and a new building was erected. Independence Engine was assigned quarters on South Street just below Smith Street. Lady Washington Hose was housed in the rear of the Nelson Avenue firehouse, later to be the quarters of the Fire Patrol until the latter was moved to Highland Avenue in December 1950.
When the Nelson Avenue and Park Street firehouses were torn down under the urban renewal program, Washington Engine, Columbian Engine, and Columbian Hose were moved to the Academy Street firehouse in the fall of 1965.
The volunteers of yesterday were much as today, consisting of business owners, doctors, nurses, lawyers, scientists, engineers, clerks, farmers, mechanics, school teachers, students, political leaders, blacksmiths, and store proprietors. The same holds true today, with volunteers from various backgrounds and professional experience.
Before there was a reservoir and before a system of pipes and hydrants became operative in 1875, firefighters depended on water in cisterns located in various parts of the village. The reservoirs, in 1898, were located at the intersections of Main and Spring Streets, Division and Broad Streets, Cortlandt and James Streets, South and Division Streets, Smith Street (near South Street), Division and Cortlandt Streets, and South and Depew Streets.
The early apparatus were simple carts carrying either buckets or ladders. Later came pumpers, worked by hand, which drew the water from the cisterns or the river and forced it through what was known as the "pipe". For many years they were all hand drawn, including hose reels. Eventually, horses were employed to make it easier to transport equipment. Columbian Engine Company never employed horse drawn apparatus, they shifted directly from hose reel to the first motorized apparatus: a Webb pumper. The Pumper was purchased in 1909 following the big Peekskill Military Academy fire when water pressure proved to be inadequate and assistance was rendered by a Steamer from Ossining. The 1909 Webb Triple-Combination Pumper was the first motorized apparatus in New York State.
The department had over 200 active members in 1862. An amended charter, approved by the state legislature in 1864, authorized the Village Trustees to increase the membership to 60 in each of the two Engine companies, 25 in each of the three Hose companies, and 40 in the Hook & Ladder company.
Some time in years after the Civil War (1861-1865) the number of members in each of the companies was increased to 60. Around World War I, the active membership was increased to 80, and in World War II a limit of 100 members was adopted. Presently the number of volunteers in each company is limited to 50, or a total of 300 for the whole department.
The village trustees decreed in the fall of 1860 that the "whistle of the engine at the foundry of Horton, Depew & Sons [Plow Works] is hereby adopted as the fire alarm and the person that causes such whistle to be blown so as to give the first alarm shall be entitled to $1 for each and every alarm so sounded." This approximated a 12-hour day's wages.
Copies of company bylaws which have been preserved are remindful of an era somewhat different than the present. Fines were levied for not attending fires, and for "misconduct at blazes and meetings" and drinking.
Typical of the discipline of the period, the 1857 bylaws of Cortlandt Hook & Ladder Company called for a fine of $0.50 for "appearing at a fire without a fire cap" or "loaning his to another person not a member". Any member who was "incapable of duty from the too free use of liquors" or "visited the company quarters in a state of intoxication" was subject to a fine of $2 for the first offense and for the second may be expelled. Disorderly conduct involving the use of any profane or indecent language called for a fine of $1.
Washington Engine Company included in their 1881 bylaws and regulations that "any member in going to or returning from any parade, inspection or fire who shall refuse to station himself at the drag rope shall be penalized 50 cents." A $0.25 fine was imposed for disorderly conduct, profane or indecent language or smoking while in meeting and the same amount was payable by the person who neglects or refuses to attend three successive meetings.
The bylaws of the Nelson Avenue fire company required expulsion of the member found guilty of "bringing of or using beer or spiritous liquids in the house, or gambling or playing cards, or permitting gambling or card playing." A person who became intoxicated in uniform on the day of a parade was to be fined $5.
Being that many of the firemen enlisted in the Civil War, special company elections were called to fill vacancies. The number of men available for firefighting greatly decreased because of what the newspaper called "enlistment fever which has carried off so many to war and left serious blanks in all our societies." Fire Chief Stephen D. Horton found it necessary to warn the people: "the present inefficient state of the fire department because of the large number of enlistments ... I respectfully ask, that in case of fire, you render them all the assistance you can". He also noted a shortage of hose.
An accurate number of volunteers who have given their time to fight fires over the last 185 years cannot be ascertained. However, it is known that thousands of man-hours have been given by the volunteers to aid their fellow citizen.
Chief Clifton E. Forbush, who motorized all companies between 1909 and 1919, characterized the fire department as Peekskill's greatest institution. It is also Peekskill's oldest institution - nothing else in the area has as long a history.
The fire department has come a long way since Chief Horton asked the citizens to help fight fires. Now, motorized apparatus operated by paid personnel are quickly dispatched to the scene alongside dedicated volunteers responding whenever the alarm sounds, from the days of the bell to the computerized tones of today.
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