The First 20 Years
In 1920 Springfield Township was mostly all farms, the smallest property was one acre, but that was rare - for 75 to 120 acres were generally the size.
It was on March 2, 1920 that a dozen men met at the home of D. Britton Chambers, of Rolling (now numbered 19 S. Rolling Road), and passed a resolution "that the gentlemen present proceed with the formation of a volunteer fire company to be known as the Springfield Fire Company, and that immediate steps be taken to obtain a charter."
On June 10, 1920, the Springfield Fire Company was chartered in the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. D. Britton Chambers was named President and Joseph W. Sloan was the first Fire Chief. Dr. George Speirs was Vice President; R.D.; Sheetz was Treasurer; Edmund Thompson was Secretary; and Harry Mumford was the Assistant Secretary.
H.J. Makiver was named solicitor of the new organization, and the directors elected included: Mr. Chambers, C.B. Bolles, Edward A. Wintermute and Clarence H. Campbell, four-year terms; Joseph W. Sloan, R.D. Sheetz, M.S. Pancoast and Charles Donovan, three-year terms; William A. Allison, Frank C. Birch, William P. Bender and Peter Hackett, two-year terms; and Albert Evans, George Speirs, Francis T. Reinhart and A.E. Schmitt, one-year terms.
The first fire alarm system in the township, when firefighting was done with leather buckets, consisted of three steel locomotive rims which were rung by hitting them with a ten pound sledge hammer. One was located at Springfield and Rolling Roads, the second near the present Saxer Avenue trolley station, and the third was on Baltimore Pike near Swarthmore. The one at Springfield and Rolling Roads was later moved to the 300 block of Orchard Road.
In the early days of the Township, firemen often included chimney cleaning in the their work of protecting homes, for wood fires produced an accumulation of sap which clung to the flues and caused a fire hazard. Donations for this service were added to the treasury which the volunteers were struggling to swell. The financing of the new firefighting organization in Springfield tells a novel story of how the early volunteers used every method available to raise money for their fire company. From the first fair at "The Commons" (Windsor Circle) on September 9, 10, and 11, 1920, to turkey raffles, tag days, chancing automobiles, dances, minstrel and vaudeville shows, sauerkraut suppers, right through the "Queen Pageant" in 1927, the members labored to raise money so their fire company could build a firehouse that would allow them to maintain and expand its service to the community.
Joseph W. Sloan served as the first Fire Chief for three years. Before the first firehouse (a one story building with a gabled roof) was built in late 1920, the original Dodge fire engine was housed in the garages of Dr. George Speirs (now identified as 400 Saxer Avenue) and Mr. Teddy Gilday (now identified as Prince's Automotive at N. State Road & N. Rolling Road). The original firehouse, which had cost approximately $2,500, was built on the property purchased by the volunteers, on Saxer Avenue near Powell Road.
M.S. Pancoast became the second President in 1921, the year the flagpole was erected at a cost of $10.00 near the newly constructed firehouse. A few months later the members approved the purchase of badges for the volunteers at a cost of seventy-five cents each. This was the year the Women's Club of Springfield was granted permission to meet in the firehouse, and a guidon was presented to the Springfield Fire Company by the Assistant Chief of the Llanerch Fire Company, for the largest attendance at their annual fair.
Sixteen volunteers answered the call at the old Johnston Quarry, on Saxer Avenue, in August, 1921, when an unknown cause destroyed a powder shed there. The following year, Harry Mumford was named as Fire Chief, replacing Joseph Sloan who resigned in April 1922. A new alarm system, consisting of an electric siren mounted on a steel tower near the firehouse, was put in service in September, 1922. Old records show that the firehouse was painted and double thick glass installed in the doors in 1922, all for the sum of $50.00. The Springfield Farms Improvement Civic Association was granted permission that year to hold their monthly meetings in the firehouse. In September of that year, the fire company purchased a Ford car for $499.30 to be chanced at its annual fair.
In 1922, the school teachers at the original Central School were given a key to the firehouse in order that they could use the telephone in an emergency, since there was no phone in the school. The school children of the old school house enjoyed movies in the new firehouse, at the request of the School Board.
Acting in the capacity as the first civic group, the fire company is on record as registering complaints in the early days to the "shortline" authorities about their cutting down of trolley service on Baltimore Pike. The poor condition of Burmont Road was called to the attention of the Upper Darby Commissioners and the Garrettford Fire Company, as being a "source of danger in case of fire", by the members of the Springfield Fire Company.
At a meeting in April, 1923, Mr. Chambers spoke at length on fire hazards as a result of lightening in connection with the establishment of radio aerials. That month fires were reported at Miss O'Hara's sanitarium on Woodland Avenue (now the location of the E.T.Richardson Middle School), a fire at Bennett's tenant house (now identified as 142 North Rolling Road). The Swarthmore Paper Mill donated $50.00 to the fire company for its assistance in fighting a fire there.
In October, 1923, the Springfield Citizen's Association received permission to use the firehouse as a polling place at election time. It was in that same year that Charles Cope was named the third President of the company, with Harry Mumford still the Fire Chief.
Springfield became a first class township on June 13, 1924. Springfield was a five-ward township, with a population of 4,000. The commissioners included M. Pancoast, Harry Marshall, Dr. George Speirs and A. Akerman. John Calder was elected part-time secretary and paid $600 a year. Commissioners were paid $100 a year. William A. Allison was elected first township treasurer. Total receipts from all sources were $60,901.87. All of these men were members of the Springfield Fire Company. In that year the first Captain of Police was Peter J. Kreinbihl, assisted by two patrolmen (Harvey Williamson was one). William Morgan was the Justice of the Peace.
On behalf of the newly formed township Board of Commissioners, Dr. Speirs made application to the fire company on January 23, 1924, for use of the firehouse for meetings, which was granted at a rental cost to the township of $200 annually. That same year the original Central School was closed and the new school was opened on Saxer Avenue near Powell Road (present site of the Volunteer's Memorial Field). A month later the fire company met with Commissioners to discuss fireplugs in the township, and police protection. That same month, in a change from the usual, the fire company entertainment committee raffled a breakfast room suite and 50 pounds of coffee at the Valentine's Dance on February 16.
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