The loss of a
volunteer fire company is a grievous blow to any community. It is a loss that cuts much deeper than just
that of fire protection. Norristown’s
Humane Fire Company officially closed its building at #129 East Main Street in
early 2012, a site it had occupied since 1852, the year of its formation. The reason was an all-too-common one these
days: the dwindling number of people willing to be volunteer firefighters. The company merged with the Norristown Hose
Fire Company, and moved its equipment.
The Humane Fire
Company is gone, but its building—and more important, its history—will not be lost. Two partners have purchased the
building, and obtained the necessary financing to renovate it and open a
microdistillery called “Five Saints”.
This could be an outstanding addition to Main Street when it opens in
January, 2016. The project has the full
support of Norristown Municipal Council, as it should.
It’s good news
that the building will be saved, and a microdistillery might be just the type
of trendy new spot that will bring people to Norristown for recreation, which
is the best news of all. But there is
one more reason to celebrate, and it’s the one I want to highlight.
The building’s new owners have pledged to
preserve the old firehouse’s memory, and make it the central component of their
local identity. Norristown residents,
regardless of whether they even drink or not, should be pleased about that. Such
a pledge could mean many things, and only time will tell. I am all in favor of preserving an old
firehouse, but I hope that the new occupant’s commitment to telling the story
of the building it calls home will go beyond displaying curious hats, items of
brass and yellowed photographs. That’s
nostalgia, not history, and the Humane Fire Company was an important part of
the real history of Norristown. That
makes it a potentially rich source of badly needed knowledge about the way
things really were “back in the day,” and we can all use more of that.
Volunteer fire
companies used to exist everywhere, but they were of particular significance to
our smaller towns. A town’s volunteer
fire companies are, together with its ethnic churches, the best windows into
its past. Even the obvious things about
these companies have meaning. The fact
that Norristown’s different fire companies have different color schemes was not
accidental; they symbolize the ethnic affiliations of their founders. When you look below the surface, you find
even more meaning woven into their very existence.
Volunteer fire
companies came into existence because fire was the omnipresent danger in those
towns during their period of growth, but they were social organizations first and
foremost. They may not actually have
been all that effective at their primary task until well into the 20th
century—the history of the Schuylkill River towns is rife with accounts of
devastating fires—but ultimately their most important function was as symbols
of civic organization and individual belonging. This went way beyond parades, the social
function for which they are best known.
Their influence
overlapped with that of the ethnic religious congregations in each town, because
they were reflections of those groups.
These ethnic populations set the tone within each town (largely in their
order of arrival), and the fire companies reflect that history. Geography played a part, of course, because
each company was established to serve a specific physical area. Still, ethnic discrimination shaped who lived
where in a town of any size, making geography largely an expression of
ethnicity. Who could join what
department and who couldn’t was universally understood, if not openly
expressed. In the larger towns on the
Schuylkill River, size allowed repetition, which meant that the different volunteer
companies could divide along ethnic lines.
In the smallest ones, this was much more problematic.
Another reason fire companies could discriminate was that they had a large pool
of applicants to draw from. The 19th
century (and well into the 20th) was also a time that membership in
local organizations was absolutely central to the social life of both
individuals and families. No mass media
meant no mass culture; very few people focused much attention beyond their narrowly-defined
communities. Community organizations—civic,
service, religious and commemorative—flourished. Volunteer fire companies were prestigious
organizations, and membership in them was highly desired. Ethnicity and location determined what
company a man might join, but the underlying reason was that in those days men
lived and worked in the same town, and thus had a vested interest in protecting
it from fires.
But that was
then. This is now, and things have
changed. We no longer live in a
locally-centered culture; we have much more free time than in the old days, but
also a great many more calls on it.
Perhaps the most important change for firefighters is the fact that
today very few people live and work in the same town; the availability of
volunteers can be chancy. Thus volunteer
fire companies have come to depend on paid firefighters to staff the houses,
but still face the prospect of consolidation and closure. Their loss means that rich sources of local
history are disappearing.
There is so much
that the history of a volunteer company can teach us about the history of our
towns, and how much has changed since the glory days of both. The fact that ethnic discrimination lies at
the foundation of that history has been almost ignored in the telling of their
history. They are the subjects of such
veneration, and the reality of their time is so distant from us, that they have
become myths themselves, each with a carefully shaped and polished appearance
designed to obscure the truth that lies within.
Norristown’s Humane Fire Company was no
exception. John George’s partner in this
effort, Louis “Jay” Rachelli, might have a personal reason to promote an understanding
of its central—if unpleasant—truth.
The Company’s location on East Main Street made it the only company
located in the east end, and the population of the east end was overwhelmingly
Italian. Yet as late as 1950, the Humane
Fire Company had never admitted an Italian member. That little fact should serve up some
interesting questions, of course. Did
this policy change, and if so, when?
What about Norristown’s other companies?
How long did they retain their original complexion? Do they have any remaining traditions about
membership?
I have been writing frequently of the need to know the truth about our past if we want to make our future better. That's why words and phrases like "racism" and "ethnic discrimination" are peppered about my blog posts. In this post I have simply added one more component to the picture and, I hope, thereby opened one more door to that better future. This isn't about uncovering dark secrets; fire companies and what each represented are part of the history of our towns. The fact that they did not display the attitudes of today should surprise no one, nor should anyone try to sugar coat history out of some misplaced sense of shame. This was a time when overt discrimination against any number of "others" could be openly practiced, so ethnic divisions among fire companies must be understood in context. Our volunteer fire companies played a role in shaping our communities that was both vital and multifaceted. The fact that one or more of those facets are displeasing to the modern eye is not a reason to obscure them. It is, rather a reason to highlight them, because only the truth will make you free.
I have been writing frequently of the need to know the truth about our past if we want to make our future better. That's why words and phrases like "racism" and "ethnic discrimination" are peppered about my blog posts. In this post I have simply added one more component to the picture and, I hope, thereby opened one more door to that better future. This isn't about uncovering dark secrets; fire companies and what each represented are part of the history of our towns. The fact that they did not display the attitudes of today should surprise no one, nor should anyone try to sugar coat history out of some misplaced sense of shame. This was a time when overt discrimination against any number of "others" could be openly practiced, so ethnic divisions among fire companies must be understood in context. Our volunteer fire companies played a role in shaping our communities that was both vital and multifaceted. The fact that one or more of those facets are displeasing to the modern eye is not a reason to obscure them. It is, rather a reason to highlight them, because only the truth will make you free.
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