Springfield Fire Company

On the 4^th of July the Springfield Volunteer Memorial Fund, Inc. added 10 names to the Volunteer Monument at the corner of Saxer Avenue and Powell Road.  This was the 14^th year that names of township volunteers have been added to the monument since the Memorial Fund was organized in 1995.  The Fund was created to honor the exemplary volunteers from 10 township organizations.

This year the Springfield Fire Company honored one of its founding members, Malachi S. Pancoast.  Mr. Pancoast was one of the township citizens who organized the fire company in March 1920.  The first meeting to organize a fire company was at the home of the fire company’s first president, D. Britton Chambers, on South Rolling Road.  Ironically, that house in now the home of fourth ward commissioner Paul Wechsler.  Pancoast was one of the Charter Members of the Springfield Fire Company when it was chartered in the Delaware County Court of Common Please in June 1920.  He later served three terms as president of the Fire Company

Malachi Pancoast was born in a house next to the Lamb Tavern on July 13, 1874 to Ellen B. Sloan Pancoast and Samuel F. Pancoast, both members of pioneer families.  Following the death of his father Malachi was compelled to go to work at the age of 16.  In 1904, he bought a horse, wagon, side of beef, a ham and a piece of dried beef, and started his own butcher route through the farmlands of Springfield and Marple.  After marrying the former Lula W. Worrell of Morton, the Pancoast family settled into two different farms in Springfield, and their two sons, Franklin and William, were born on the E. S. Hann farm.

Later Mr. & Mrs. Pancoast purchased the Wells property on Powell Road between Saxer and Leamy Avenues, on which ground the Central School was built 20 years later. At the time Mr. Pancoast conducted his meat business on Powell Road.

Mr. Pancoast was elected the first president of the Board of Commissioners when Springfield became a first class township in 1924.  He was also elected Prothonotary of Delaware County in 1930.  He was vice-president of the Springfield Building and Loan Association for 26 years, and was one of the founders of the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield.

The Pancoast name is well known in the history of the Fire Company as well as the Township of Springfield.  Malachi’s two sons, S. Franklin Pancoast and William Pancoast were also members of the Volunteer Fire Company.  In fact, two streets in Springfield were named after the Pancoast family members, Pancoast Avenue and Franklin Avenue.  Both streets are located in the farm land area that was purchased by Pancoast family in the early 1900’s.

Malachi Pancoast died very suddenly.  After celebrating his sixtieth birthday on July 13, 1934 Mr. Pancoast took a group of boys to the Philadelphia ball game on Tuesday July 17, which was his habit.  Following the game he took a pleasant drive with Mrs. Pancoast until twilight.  Mr. Pancoast then complained to his wife that he was suffering from indigestion.  Although he was ready for bed, Mr. Pancoast took his car from the garage and drove to Whitley’s Pharmacy on Saxer Avenue where he obtained medicine, which he evidently planned to take at home.  However, after leaving Whitley’s he apparently changed his mind and drove to the office of Dr. C. E. Lawson on Windsor Circle.  While Dr. Lawson was attending to him “Mally” fell from the chair – dead.  Hardly had the life left his body about 10:15 pm, when the sad news was on the lips of the entire township.

On July 21, 1934 all local business places closed their doors from 1 to 3 o’clock, and flags through out Springfield were lowered to half mast, and the Fire Company, of which he was one of the most active and conscientious benefactors, draped its building in black.  The funeral services were held on that date from the deceased’s residence, 307 East Leamy Avenue.  The Reverend J. Earl Jackman, pastor of the Springfield Presbyterian Church, conducted the services.  Following the services Delaware County Judge John M. Broomall headed the host of important officials in the funeral procession.  A line of automobiles, escorted by the State Highway patrolmen, and Springfield Police, accompanied the procession to the Media Cemetery, where the deceased was interred in the family plot.

Few people knew of Mr. Pancoast’s off-time duties, that of helping those in need.  When he made a quiet tour to a neighbor in need, he usually took along a large box of groceries, a slab of bacon and before parting, would tuck a few dollar bills under a candlestick or under an empty bowl on the kitchen table.  For years he was self-appointed “school wagon driver”, and when he couldn’t cover his daily route, he was sure to seek someone to do the job for the day so that the youngsters would be safe.  A dynamic person, he was an avid sportsman and keenly interested in animals.  On his farms he kept a kennel filled with hunting hounds and was a horse-racing enthusiast in the early years.

Mrs. Lula Pancoast succeeded her husband as Prothonotary and was the first woman “row officer” to serve Delaware County.  She received her appointment from Governor Pinchot, and she was re-elected after filling Mr. Pancoast’s unexpired term.  It was Mrs. Pancoast’s office that first trimmed a Christmas tree in the court house building.

July 4, 2009 was surely a special day for the entire Pancoast family, who traveled from as far away as Pittsburgh, in addition to those family members who still live locally, to attend the ceremony that added the name of Malachi S. Pancoast to the Volunteer Memorial Monument.  Springfield Fire Company continues to be a great organization thanks to the milestone steps taken in the beginning years by many of our founding members.