History of the Natick Fire Department

The Natick Fire Department was founded in 1844 with Nathaniel Smith as the first chief. Two fire stations were established. The first, Union House, was located on Main Street across from Summer Street. Engine Victor One was stationed here. The second station, Eliot House, was located just south of the Charles River on Pleasant Street. Eliot House operated Eliot Two, a 'hand tub' fire engine. In 1857 the Felchville Station was added on North Main Street at the intersection with Bacon Street. The engine Mazeppa Three, built in Roxbury, arrived at Felchville a year later. By 1859 Union House had become a ladder company with the purchase of $215 worth of equipment from Charlestown and had grown to a complement of twenty-five men.

On March 2, 1872 fire broke out in a dry goods shop in the South Natick business district. The Morrell Tavern, built in 1782, was engulfed within minutes and completely destroyed. The fire then spread to the Walker Block at the corner of Eliot Street and Mill Lane destroying the early collections of what would eventually become the Natick Historical Society. The Morrell Tavern was located in what is now Shaw Park, across from the Bacon Free Library. Click here for a map of the fire and a list of the buildings lost.

Almost two years later Natick experienced an even more devastating fire than the one in South Natick. On January 13, 1874 fire broke out in the F.E. Cummings drug store on the corner of Main and Summer Streets. The blaze quickly swept through Natick Center, destroying nearly everything along Main Street from the railroad tracks to the common. For a complete history of the fire, click here.

Natick began to rebuild quickly and in 1875 the new brick fire station on Summer Street was erected, seventy-eight hydrants were in place and twelve reservoirs helped supply the firefighters with water. In 1890 the fire engine Eagle One at the Summer Street Station was replaced with a new steam engine at a cost of $3,318.25. That same year nineteen alarms were reported, two of which were false. One year later in 1891 Natick earned the title "Home of Champions".

The Department in the 20th Century

Entering the 1900s The Natick Fire Department boasted two steam fire engines, four hose wagons, two four-wheel hose reels, a two-wheel jumper, a hand truck for ladders, a supply wagon, ten horses and one two-horse ladder truck which was out of commission and up for sale. The fire department operated three stations; the headquarters on Summer Street, Engine House Two in South Natick, and Felchville Station near the intersection of North Main and Bacon Streets. Four hose houses also operated across the town.

In 1904 the Felchville neighborhood suffered a disasterous fire. Four alarms were sounded, calling out the entire department. The fire started in the rear of C. H. Felch's barn. Several tons of hay and several wagons were stored in the barn and quickly fueled the flames. The fire then spread to Felch's shop, a former shoe factory unoccupied except for a grocery business. The next major fire to take place in Natick was on March 31, 1915 when flames broke out in the the Odd Fellows block at the corner of South Main and Pond Streets causing $9,232 worth of damage. (The Odd Fellows block is now home to the Bakery on the Common.)

The Natick Fire Department lost its first man in the line of duty on December 29, 1917 when Robert Sproule, a driver for more than 25 years, died when Hose Wagon Number Two overturned in South Natick.

April 1918 brought a fire which caused many in the town to see the need for modernizing the department by replacing horse-drawn engines with motorized equipment. Fire broke out in the Union Lumber Company on Cochituate Street, a dangerous location because of the finished lumber stored there and its proximity to nearby buildings. Arrival of the steamer engine was delayed by thirty minutes because the department's horses were already in use in South Natick and a brush fire at the sunkaway on Worcester Road. Observers at the scene noted "There was considerable bursting of hose, and why shouldn't it with autos and teams of all kinds driving over it?" A Natick Bulletin article also noted "It's a sin to race horses from South Natick in these days of motorized apparatus and the town should not delay any longer in getting up to date."

Two months later a kettle of fat caught fire in the dining room of Lamb's Lunch Room, located on the corner of North Main Street and Middlesex Avenue, known as the the Ahearn Block. The blaze spread rapidly throughout the building. The Natick Bulletin again reports the difficulty in moving firefighting equipment to the scene: "There was considerable delay in getting steamer streams on the building on account of horses being out of the central district, the steamer being pulled out by manpower." During the fire the north wall of the building collapsed, carrying the extension ladder upon which were three firemen. One of these men, Howard Frost, died at the scene.

The 1920s and 1930s were a time of growth and modernization for the department. In 1925 the Leonard Morse Hospital stationed the town's first ambulance at the Summer Street station. Motorized 'combination' engines which carried both hoses and chemicals for fighting fire were placed into service, with the last horse-drawn equipment retired in 1935. In 1937 the Natick Fire Department boasted it's first year in which no buildings were recorded as totally lost to fire.

On February 21, 1941 fifty men and women were forced to flee a two-alarm blaze that had invaded Kemp's Bowlaway on Washington Street. The fire began in a storeroom in the front lobby of the building, which had formerly been the Natick Theatre. When the fire reached the old balcony a second alarm was called, bringing an engine and ladder truck from Wellesley. Protective blankets were put over the bowling alleys to prevent water damage. The fire was eventually extinguished but not before causing more than $8000 to the bowling alley and damaging the stock of the Cassidy Millinery shop.

Two years later Natick suffered the most spectacular fire in decades. On November 14, 1943 the Ahearn Block (now the site of Natick Federal Savings Bank) was completely destroyed. Firefighters from Natick, Framingham and Wellesley waged a four-hour fight to bring the fire under control. The fire was successfully contained to Ahearn Block by concentrating two aerial lines on the fire while firefighters worked the flames from hoses run to the rooftops of nearby buildings. No one was in the building at the time of the fire but several businesses were lost, including a barber shop, a tobacconist, and a print shop. The office of the town tax collector was also located on the first floor. After the fire it was discovered that Natick's tax records, store in fireproof vaults, had survived the fire intact.

In August of 1948 firefighters were summmoned to the Sherwood-at-Natick Country Club by a report of a fast-moving fire in the dining room and kitchen. Arriving on the scene, Chief Brown immediately ordered an alarm, sounded by the call box, calling all available men and apparatus to the scene. The fire was eventually extinguished, but not before causing major damage to the dining room, lounge, kitchen and reception room. A bowling alley and locker rooms in the basement also suffered extensive damage. Almost immediately it became apparent that this fire was no accident. The maintenance shed had been broken into, a five gallon can of gasoline was found outside the clubhouse and the blaze had started simultaneously in several places. Authorities quickly arrested an employee who'd been fired only days earlier. He was found quilty of arson and sentenced to prison.

The Natick Fire Department prepared to enter the next decade with consruction of a new South Natick Station. A December, 1948 article from the Natick Bulletin reports the station "has its apparatus back in service running from this station with the usual compliment of men". Built as a bungalow-style structure it is still in use today with a second floor addition.

In January of 1951 an unoccupied house on Upland Road in East Natick was severely burned when Wellesley Firefighters went in the wrong direction. The house involved was located only a few yards from the Wellesley town line. Upon noticing the fire a neighbor phoned the Wellesley Fire Department but neglected to tell the dispatcher that the fire was in Natick. The Wellesley men immediately responded, traveling towards Upland Road in their town which is located near the border with Dover. When firefighters failed to arrive at the scene a nearby call box was pulled and the Natick department responded, extinguishing the flames which had burned for more than an hour.

Fire destroyed a house at Lookout Farm in November of 1951. Arriving at the scene firefighters found the nearest hydrant to the burning house was on Pleasant Street and had to lay 3,500 feet of hose, or almost two-thirds of a mile! It is believed that a stove used for heating started the blaze.

In September of 1954 fire broke out at the Castalloy Company on West Central Street. Firefighters quickly contained the blaze on the exterior of the building but not before it spread to the magnesium filings stored inside. (Castalloy manufactured parts for airplanes and missiles.) Once ignited, magnesium cannot be extinguished with water, leaving the town's firefighters to stand watch over the molten metal for almost two days until the fire burned itself out.

When the Mansion Inn in Wayland, a popular restaurant and dance hall, caught fire in March 1956 Natick firemen were called to help stop the blaze. In only two hours the ballroom wing had been leveled, the main roof and interior of the building had been destroyed, and most of the east wing had burned out. For a detailed account of the Mansion Inn fire see see the Wayland High School's History Project.

One fire truck and its crew moved into the newly built East Natick fire station on Rhode Island Road at Oak Street in December of 1958. This new station would eventually replace the former hose house at Felchville.

In August of 1960 fire broke out once again at the Castalloy Company. This time the firefighters were prepared to fight the blaze with sand rather than water. The fire was worked for two and a half hours before being brought under control. By the end of the day the blaze had rekindled itself twice. By the time it was finally extinguished the fire had caused a portion of the roof and two exhaust stacks to collapse.

Early in February 1962 the old pumping station on West Central was burned to the ground in a controlled fire. Natick firefighters conducted this as a training exercise. Large timbers burned most of the day.

In January of 1963 the Natick Firefighters Wives Association was formed with Mrs. Frances Arena elected as the first president.

By 1965 the fire department had grown to 92 members with a budget of $587,404. Four stations were in operation under Chief Richard Fahey.

In April 1965 the department conducted another controlled fire at the abandoned and condemned greenhouses on Bacon Street. In the 1920s this property, a section of the Waban Rose Convservatory, boasted the longest greenhouse in the world at 1,000 feet long. It was here that the American Beauty rose was originally developed.

The town report of 1967 notes the delivery of Engine 4, a pumper capable of delivering 1,000 gallons per minute from its nozzle.

In 1970 the expenditures for the Natick Fire Department were $1,105,744 - almost double that of 1965. Ninety-eight members of the department handled 1,996 calls that year. Also in 1970 a new 'cherry picker' truck was put into service.

A decade later the number of calls handled annually by the department had grown significantly. In 1980 3,347 calls were received.

By 1989 the town had more than 1,100 hydrants in place. Calls in 1989 leveled off at 3,153.

On December 6, 1998 the town held Natick Appreciation Day to celebrate the opening of the new fire station at 22 East Central Street. The old fire station on Summer Street was retired and eventually restored as the Natick Center for the Arts.