HISTORY OF THE KUTZTOWN FIRE COMPANY NO. 1

The history of the Kutztown Fire Company No. 1, organized on January 14, 1908 and incorporated on April 1, 1918 is a long and glorious one. Its service to the community and its achievements exemplify the countless hours the men and women have given voluntarily in self-less service to their community. It is to those men that this history is dedicated.
 
The history of firefighting in Kutztown goes back beyond 1908. 
Town records reveal that in 1816, one year after the borough was incorporated, fire ladders were provided. William Henninger was authorized to take the ladders to the shop of Jacob Baldy and have them shod. 
 
As early as 1820 steps were taken to secure a piece of fire apparatus, but none was purchased until 1830, the year Kutztown’s first Volunteer Fire Company had its inception. Dr. Christian L. Schlem, George Bieber and William Heidenreich as a committee of citizens purchased the first fire apparatus. The apparatus had to be housed and for the sum of $44.75 a building was erected by Benjamin Bachman. It was not a very commodious building, but it served the purpose and the citizens of the borough must have been proud of their building and apparatus. In 1836 the fire company then in existence, complained that the apparatus was out of repair. In 1840 another apparatus was purchased. On January 1, 1841, Dr. Bieber was appointed a committee of one to produce a fire bell for the American Fire Company, which was incorporated on April 22, 1844.
 
In 1854, there being no fire company in existence, owning to the fire apparatus being out of repair, the young men of the borough petitioned Borough Council for permission to organize another fire company. The request was denied. The apparatus was later repaired by Paul Hilbert and Henry Glasser, but not thoroughly, it would seen, for in 1858 two-hundred dollars more were expended for this purpose, through D.B. Kutz and Company.
 
In 1860 Borough Council decided to build a fire house, but the Civil Was resulted in the suspension of the project. It was not until 1871 that Borough Council erected a two-story brick fire house at a cost of $1,349.00 at 439 W. Main Street.
The fire equipment was housed on the first floor and the borough office occupied part of the second floor. Horses were purchased as late as 1913 to be used monthly for sprinkling streets to keep the dust settled. In 1915 council sold the fire horses and built a second Town Hall on North Whiteoak Street with enlarged quarters for firefighting equipment and Borough Offices.
 
The Kutztown Fire Company No. 1 was organized on January 14, 1908, merging what ever remained intact of the initial companies. It was incorporated April 1, 1918, as a completely volunteer fire company. The first officers were:
 
President – Charles D. Herman
First Vice-President – Nicholas M. Rahn
Second Vice-President – Dr. N. Z. Dunkelberger
Third Vice-President – E. P. DeTurk
Secretary – W. Scott Dietrich
Assistant Secretary – Daniel M. Saul
Treasurer – George B. Kohler
Fire Chief – William R. Sander
Assistant Fire Chief- John D. Geiger
Second Assistant Fire Chief Marion Hertzog
 
Charter members at the time of incorporation in 1918 were William B. Schaeffer, Quinton D. Herman, Arthur Bonner, Peter Steckel, Valentine Kieffer, C.I. G. Christman, U.J. Miller, E.P. DeTurk, E.J. Dries and William Serfass.
 
During the early years of the company, funds were raised by sprinkling the streets of the borough, holding band fairs, renting the hall to outside organization and operating a social quarters.
 
In 1918 a manually controlled electric siren was placed on top of the Power House, which served as the first fire alarm system. On September 4, 1921 a contract was placed for a fire alarm system and 9 alarm boxes were purchased from the City of Allentown. The St. John’s church bell was used for the alarm signal. On June 24, 1929, a contract was signed for the installation of a Gamewell Fire Alarm System with a horn to be located in the tower of Town Hall.
 
October 22, 1931, the company purchased land adjacent to the Fire Dam to build a swimming pool. With the financial aid of the Borough Council, the pool was completed in August 1932 at a cost of approximately $30,000.00. 
 
The pool has been a source of income and was operated solely by the company until 1963 when the Borough Council has a new swimming poll erected along the Saucony Creek north of the Normal Avenue bridge.

The New Fire House

Since the organization of the company in 1908, the Town Hall, first at 439 W. Main Street and later on North Whiteoak Street, had served as its headquarters, providing rooms for business meetings, social quarters and also housing apparatus. It had been the desire of the company for a long time to erect its own structure to provide the needed facilities. Son on April 1, 1947, a plot of ground, 540 feet by 150 feet, located on Noble Street was purchased from Wilson B. and Mary Kutz for the sum of $7170.00 After much discussion and consideration of the part of the trustees, plans were formulated and it was found necessary to raise approximately $210,000.00 in order to proceed. At the end of the 1948 fiscal year, the records shoed that the total amount of available was $65,000.00.  With this cash on hand and the assurance of a local bank to loan the necessary monies until a bond issue could be floated, final plans were completed by the building committee and the general contract was awarded. Carl Eisenhower of Reading was the architect and Edward A. Reider & Son of Reading was the contractor. The building committee, headed by J. Gomer Saul, included Irvin Delcamp, Francis DeTurk, Kenneth Welder, Charles Lightcap, Charles Saul, Harry Knittle, Harold Miller, Orville Hauck, Harvey Reidenour, Warren Grim and Karry Kline. Ground was broken for the new Fire House on May 13, 1949 as was opened for business on April 1, 1950.
  
During the 11 month construction, sizeable contributions were received from the various organizations of the company, from individual members of the company and also from a number of citizens of the community. The two-story, buff brick fire house was built at a cost of $225,000.00 of which $95,000.00 was paid at the time of dedication on September 9, 1950. The $130,000.00 balance was financed by a bond issue which went on sale by October 1, 1950. The last of the outstanding bonds were recalled for payment on April 1, 1967.  Well ahead of the maturity date.
  
The first floor contained an apparatus room 55 by 60 feet, large enough to house six pieces of apparatus, a 50 by 80 feet auditorium, complete with a stage, kitchen and a service bar. On the second floor, is a meeting room and an apartment. The most modern of bowling alleys are in the basement along with a social room, kitchen and boiler room.
  
As yearly as 2006, there had been much discussion of adding on to the existing engine room. With apparatus getting larger and larger, the amount of room in the current engine room was getting smaller. So in 2007, Martin Construction of Kutztown was awarded a contract to construct the addition.
  
At present, the Kutztown Fire Company runs approximately 450 calls annually and covers 40 square miles, which include residential, and rural areas, light industrial section, a university and an interstate highway. The fire company truck crew has about 50 members which operate 5 pieces of apparatus which include:
 
1996 Pierce Dash Pumper 
1998 Pierce Lance 105’ Aerial 
2000 Pierce Heavy Rescue
2004 Spartan/Smeal Tanker
2004 Ford/Swab Brush