{"id":80,"date":"2025-03-29T01:30:14","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T01:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swfc65.org\/?page_id=80"},"modified":"2025-03-29T01:30:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T01:30:14","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/swfc65.org\/?page_id=80","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Founding and Early Years (1913-1915)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On <strong>October 22, 1913<\/strong>, a meeting of South Ward citizens was held to establish a fire company. The following individuals were elected as temporary officers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>President:<\/strong> Jacob Betz<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Vice President:<\/strong> J.H. Derr<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Secretary:<\/strong> E.J. Davis<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Treasurer:<\/strong> Ed Lynch<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Fred Ditchey, Henry Steinert, and Jay Ulrich were appointed as trustees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Initially, meetings were held at Lynch\u2019s Hotel and Fred Ditchey\u2019s home until <strong>August 1915<\/strong>, when the company began renting office space at the Vulcan Iron Works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>First Firehouse (1916-1950)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In <strong>1916<\/strong>, the company purchased land and built its first firehouse at the corner of <strong>Swatara and Van Gelder Street<\/strong>. This two-story wood-frame building featured:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Basement:<\/strong> Social quarters<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ground Floor:<\/strong> Engine room<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Second Floor:<\/strong> Stage and hall<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In <strong>1923<\/strong>, <strong>Harry \u201cHoney\u201d Miller<\/strong> was hired as the club steward, a role he held until his passing in <strong>1946<\/strong>. He was instrumental in the early success of the company. Upon his death, the company received <strong>$30,000<\/strong>, which funded the construction of a new firehouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Construction of the Brick Firehouse (1950-1951)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The original building was demolished in <strong>1950<\/strong>, and a new <strong>brick firehouse<\/strong> was designed by architect <strong>Russ Long of Tamaqua<\/strong>. The new building, constructed on the foundation of the old one, was officially occupied on <strong>January 1, 1951<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notable features of the 1951 firehouse included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A <strong>52-foot-long bar<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A <strong>large social hall and kitchen<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Central air conditioning<\/strong>, uncommon at the time<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A relocated <strong>engine room<\/strong>, requiring rock removal done by members with mining experience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the masonry and steelwork was completed manually by dedicated company members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Firefighting Equipment Through the Years<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Early Equipment:<\/strong> Hand-drawn chemical wagon with 400 feet of hose<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>1921:<\/strong> First fire truck \u2013 <strong>Hahn Pumper<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>1931:<\/strong> <strong>Buffalo 500 Pumper<\/strong> replaced the Hahn<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>1954:<\/strong> A new <strong>Federal Pumper<\/strong> added<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>1968:<\/strong> Buffalo Pumper sold, replaced by a <strong>Hahn 750-Gallon Pumper<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>1981:<\/strong> Federal Pumper sold, replaced by an <strong>Mack Pumper<\/strong> ($81,000)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>1995:<\/strong> 1968 Hahn replaced by a <strong>1250-Gallon KME Pumper<\/strong>, which remains in service today<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>1981 Mack Pumper<\/strong> later sold to a fire company in St. Clair<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Expansion and Relocation (1988-Present)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>By <strong>1988<\/strong>, the original engine room had become too small for modern equipment. The company constructed a <strong>three-bay garage<\/strong>, which was completed in <strong>1989<\/strong>, providing much-needed space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With declining social hall activity and the construction of <strong>Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC)<\/strong>, the company decided to sell the brick firehouse to the college. It was remodeled and is now the <strong>Jane Scheeler Center<\/strong> of LCCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proceeds from the sale allowed the fire company to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Expand the <strong>engine room to six bays<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add a <strong>day room, bunk room, communications room, and office space<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Legacy of Service<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Over <strong>97 years<\/strong>, the South Ward Fire Company has built <strong>three firehouses<\/strong> and consistently maintained <strong>modern firefighting equipment<\/strong>. We continue to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of our community, ensuring that we will serve the people of <strong>Tamaqua<\/strong> for many years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Founding and Early Years (1913-1915) On October 22, 1913, a meeting of South Ward citizens was held to establish a fire company. The following individuals were elected as temporary officers: Fred Ditchey, Henry Steinert, and Jay Ulrich were appointed as trustees. Initially, meetings were held at Lynch\u2019s Hotel and Fred Ditchey\u2019s home until August 1915, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-80","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swfc65.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swfc65.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swfc65.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swfc65.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swfc65.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swfc65.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82,"href":"https:\/\/swfc65.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80\/revisions\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swfc65.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}