J.L. Short

The fire department fought and contained several major conflagations in the village but it was in 1897 that village builders began constructing two and three story buildings, many of them still of wood. The need for a hook and ladder truck for the department became evident. It was argued that this would only be a supplement piece of village fire apparatus for the D. E. La Dows and the E. H. Strangs, and that there would be no movement to create a hook and ladder fire company. In fact, when such a company was first hinted, many tax payers felt that the village should buy a number of assorted ladders for each of the fire houses and assign six "ladder men" to each station to be know as "ladder squads". In February 1898, the residents of the village were asked to vote on whether to purchase a ladder apparatus for the fire department. The resolution was defeated 35-1.

One year later, February 18, 1899, the village board again asked the citizens to vote on a special tax levy of $550.00 to purchase a hook and ladder wagon for the village firemen. This time they felt they had more support and only tax payers could vote by secret ballot. There was some campaigning. One group wanted a hook and ladder and a new wooden fire station at the corner of Mabbitt and Railroad Streets large enough to house the village maintenance equipment. They emphasized they did not favor the formation of a hook and ladder company. They said that such an apparatus should be drawn to a fire only when needed and that there were enough firemen in the companies to take care of it. A powerful and influential group of men, however, were circulating a petition for a hook and ladder company and offered a list for signing as a member. They favored the name, "The Mechanicville Hook and Ladder Co. #1, taking the #1, from the old Washington Engine Company. A third, but less powerful group, suggested "The John C. Duncan Hook and Ladder Company". A fourth, a splinter group of mostly organization and club men, pushed hard for the "A H. Barnes Hook and Ladder Co.". They had a very select and preferred list of names. On election day, all of the groups combined forces, however, to get the village resolution approved. The voters approved $550.00 for the purchase of a hook and ladder apparatus. The trustees gained an okay on the vote but they remained silent on approving a new fire company to go with it. As a result of the vote, the residents of Saratoga Avenue requested the Village Board to house the apparatus there. "We want the hook and ladder to be stationed on Saratoga Avenue next to the school", they said. But the board said, "No. Its too far away from the business section." A delegation came to the village board requesting that the $550.00 be used not for a hook and ladder but to buy a third hose cart. They even offered to subscribe extra money. Again, the board of trustees said "No." The money, they said, was approved for a hook and ladder and that is what it would be spent for. There was still another group who clamored for not just a hook and ladder, but a combination that also carried hose.

Andy Lenhart, a spicy gentleman to whom people listened and respected, favored the Mechanicville Hook and Ladder concept. He was tired of bickering, the indecisions and uncertainties. He called a meeting of those men who were really interested in the formation of a hook and ladder company and on March 18, 1899, called for an election of officers for an unofficial hook and ladder company, in order to get the ball rolling. A hook and ladder wagon hadn't even been purchased at this time. As a result of the meeting, officers were elected and these officers appeared before the Village Board and asked to be taken into the fire department as "The Mechanicville Hook and Ladder Company." They asked to be assigned the apparatus when it was purchased. Despite the appeal, the board of trustees turned them down on a 5-2 vote.

On March 25, 1899, the idea was gaining momentum that a company would be accepted. It was suggested that it should be called "The Ellsworth Fire Zouvas Hook and Ladder Company" in honor of Mechanicville's Civil War hero. It was also suggested that the uniform be copies after the Fire Zouaves of Civil War fame. But the A. L. Barnes group made a final effort. They asked the Village Board to accept their "preferred list" of names as the new company and that it be called "The A. L. Barnes Hook and Ladder Company". The trustees rejected their plea. They said the list was "too preferred." Fire Chief George Tripp got very angry. He appeared before the village fathers deploring the sectional feelings. He said the department sadly needed a ladder company and urged that if they couldn't make up their minds, to form two companies; a hook and ladder and hose company combined. They refused to listen. Chief Tripp reminded them that they had voted $550.00 for a hook and ladder apparatus and if they couldn't make up their minds, they should at least purchase the apparatus and the department would handle it. Tripp was sent to Troy, N.Y., to inspect a hook and ladder horse drawn apparatus which was being offered for sale by the William H. Rowe Hook and Ladder Company of Troy. It was in first class condition, had four extinguishers, and ladders to cover 160 feet. It sold for $375.00. The trustees then appointed a civilian committee to go down to Troy and inspect it. They purchased it on the condition that it would be entirely repainted. The truck was ready for delivery to Mechanicville on May 22, 1899. The Ellsworth Zouave boys were not giving up. Pawnee Bill's Wild West Circus was playing in Troy and one of the very large colorful barn-side posters depicted Ellsworth's Fire Zouaves in colorful red and blue uniforms, scaling the walls of a fort. They secured one of the posters and displayed it in Mechanicville. They added a sign saying, "Call them the Ellsworth Zouave Hook and Ladder Company No. 1". It was a losing battle.

The hook and ladder truck had its first chance to roll on May 30, 1899, at 3:05 o'clock in the afternoon to a reported fire at the Mechanicville Knitting Company on Viall Avenue. The new equipment was unable to be put to the test though for the fire was out before it got there. At that time a hook and ladder company had not yet been formally recognized by the department, but the jubilant hook and ladder operatives were never ones to stand on formality, and they gleefully hauled out their elongated apparatus and scurried to the fire scene as fast as the horses did.

The Lenhart group appeared again before the Village Board on June 3 but the board adjourned without taking any action. On June 9, 1899, Lenhart and his officers met again with the board this time exerting all of the pressure possible backed by members of the fire department. They were accepted into the fire department that night as "The Mechanicville Hook and Lader Company, No. 1". On June 17, they met officially for the first time as a fire company and named their officers. On July 1, 1899 they were officially accepted into the department.

On August 26, the committee from the Mechanicville Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 appeared before the Village Board and requested that their name be officially changed to the "J. L. Short Hook and Ladder Company No. 1" to honor a dedicated Mechanicville citizen and businessman. The "Hooks" as they are now called, later formed a combined company with the newcomer to the Mechanicville fire companies at that time— the W. L. Howland Chemical Company. Their quarters were in the original J. L. Short Building on upper Central Avenue.

For years the echo of each fire in the village was the drumming hoofs of a team from Patsy Reeve's Burke Street livery stable, galloping over the arching Frances Street bridge to haul the cumbersome hook and ladder wagon to the scene of the blaze. And when the hired team was slow in arriving, tradition relates that the firemen would at times commandeer a passing grocery rig, fastening their truck to the tail-board, and exhorting the grocery boy to be a "nice fellow and give us a lift."

The two-story brick fire house which had served as the headquarters for the combined "Hooks" and "Chemmies" and for their joint "one-truck fire department" was erected in 1901. Originally, the apparatus was housed on the ground floor, and the upper rooms of the building were used by company members as meeting and recreation chambers. The old "Hook House" was perhaps one of the best known public buildings in Mechanicville, as it served for some time as a school house after the disastrous School 1 blaze in 1920. The Hook House figured in a firemanic trade in 1922, when the purchase of a motorized ladder truck too long for the building necessitated the transfer of the Hooks to the municipal building. In 1964, the Hooks became an aerial ladder company and have since become an irreplaceable presence in the Mechanicville Fire Department. Today, the J.L. Short Hook and Ladder Company is housed in the Central Fire Station on Main St.

-The Mechanicville Fire Department would like to extend its appreciation to the work of John H. Maloney and Hal Sheehan regarding the history of the department.

J.L. Short Hook and Ladder Company #1