The town council of Waverly passed an ordinance in February, 1887, establishing the first organized volunteer fire company, an acknowledgment that all previous community efforts at fire fighting were insufficient. It brought to an end two decades of public criticism and bickering.
Fire was a major threat to every town Waverly was no exception. The town council had built an engine house on North Street in 1867, repainted the town's old hand pumper and bought an additional 500 feet of hose. In return the men of the community agreed to maintain the equipment.
The members of the semi-organized fire company in their fancy uniforms were visible at every parade and social function. Detractors in the community claimed the company was better at parading than fighting fires. After each council election, a new investigating committee would be appointed to study the fire company operations. Each report seemed a little worse.
In June, 1872, the council clearly exhibited its frustration, ordering the marshal to pick up the keys to the firehouse from the company chief and prepare a repot for the council. The marshal found that the keys were lost, which was no great problem, since all the window panes were broken and the door was off it hinges. In addition, no one could find the property deed. The council appropriated $18 to buy two pairs of shutters, 23 panes of glass, hinges and bolts for the door and pins for hanging the department's ladders. Albert Schwartz was paid $1.50 to make new fire house keys.
Two years later, the keys were lost and all the windows were broken again. The hose cart had no hose, and no one seemed to know what happened to the 500 feet of hose that had been purchased three years before. The only serviceable equipment was two double ladders and single ladders.
The committee recommended that the windows be boarded up, rubbish be cleaned out and another set of keys be made and given to the marshal.
In the latter part of 1875, another group of councilmen decided the problem was in the equipment. The old hand pumper was past fixing and the fire house needed extensive repair. Maybe, if new equipment were purchased, the community would show enough pride to keep its house in order. To this end, the town made some financial investments in fire equipment that were huge for the time.
In 1852, Alexander Latta had designed the first completely successful steam pumper. Latta continued to improve the engines which were built in Cincinnati by the C. Ahrens company. The Waverly council ordered a new Latta steam pumper, designated as number three, at a cost of $4,000. Blacksmith John Miller got $36 for putting new irons and hooks on the hose cart so it could be converted to a hook and ladder cart. Two new hose carts costing $200 each were ordered from the Bruen Company in Cincinnati. The Ahrens Company was also shipping $1,250 worth of Goodyear India Rubber hose, a total of 1,000 feet.
The council next turned its attention to the fire house. There was no way the building would hold the new equipment, so local carpenters George Hoeflinger and John Bridenbach submitted a bid of $197 to repair and refloor the existing fire house and build a shed add-on at the side. Finally, the council appropriated $30 for a Babcock fire extinguisher; nine India Rubber fire buckets at $2 apiece, and $30 for a large stove and pipe for the engine house.
The council then addressed a more serious complaint. Someone had to be responsible for watching the engine house and for firing the steamer's boiler so the engine would be ready to pump when it reached a fire. Adolph Hesse, a 42-year-old native of Germany, got the job as night watchman, working 12 to 6 a.m. and noon to 6 p.m. at $100 a year. Hesse proved so efficient that he was given the additional task of lighting and maintaining the city's streetlights. He was paid at a rate of 50¢ per month per street light, the number of lights gradually increased to 40 by 1887. In 1880, Hesse's wages as night watchmen were raised to $400 per year.
As Hesse took on other jobs, the fire company had to train members to serve as emergency engineers. This led to disputes about which engineer would operate the pumper at the fire. Finally, the town council proclaimed that the first engineer at the fire house was in charge for the duration.
In November, 1880, William Gergens resigned as chief, gave council a report on the department's property. Hesse had clearly done his job well. Every piece of equipment was accounted for, the building was in good shape and the only damaged equipment was a broken monkey wrench and two extension ladders. A trial run showed that the steamer was ready to pump in less than five minutes.
Still, the town had residents who questioned the fire company's efficiency. In mid-summer, 1882, property owners in the vicinity of Gehres Brothers Planing Mill on Canal Street complained about the sparks that regularly issued from the mill's smoke stacks. The mill used machinery from the Fay Company to make furniture and baseboard trim and the operation did represent a fire hazard. Meanwhile, the fire company was experiencing another periodic decline. None of the members seemed interested in maintaining the equipment and, in September, 1882, council issued an angry report that the new engine was badly out of repair. The coils had rusted through and the town had to pay $300 for repairmen from Ahrens Company to come up from Cincinnati. Adolph Hesse, now busy with other responsibilities, had time to do little more around the fire house than see that no one broke out the windows and keep a fire in the stove on cold nights.
In March, 1883, the inevitable happened. A worker at the Gehres Planing Mill over stoked the boilers to start a working day causing a fire. The fire company turned out in the early morning cold to fight the blaze, but the wooden structure and its flammable contents were a total loss. The firemen fought the fire for four hours in the cold to keep the blaze from the neighboring building. A subsequent council investigation report that the fire company did all or more that could be expected.
The men once again turned out for the parades, but there was a strong undercurrent of feeling that the town government needed more control. In March, 1884, the council agreed to pay the chief $50 a year. The social and political importance of the fire company stopped and instantaneous changes, but by the time Philip Gableman replaces D.H. Bishop as mayor in 1886, the change was inevitable.
The February, 1887, ordinance stirred a controversy. It not only brought the fire department under the control of the mayor, it also limited the number of members to 25. The old fire company accepted all volunteers and one of the chief criticisms was that the firemen got in each other's way. Initially, the ordinance called for volunteers company to serve without pay, but in 1888 the ordinance was amended to provide the company with a $250 yearly stipend from the town to be divided among the membership as the department saw fit.
The formal organization and the subsequent adoption of the department guidelines brought stability to the fire fighting effort. Christian Haubeil who lived at the corner of Water and East Streets, took over the position of engineer, firing the wood-burning on the pumper as the engine was being pulled to the fire, either by a team of horses or by a group of people if no horses were available. Haubeil, with his gray whiskers flowing, manned the old pumper for years.
Waverly Fire Department - Waverly, OH in 1929
Waverly Fire Department - Waverly, OH in 1959