The Romance of Norwalk

John Batterson, 132 Woodward ave., 3 and 1-2 years’ service, Company F, 17th Connecticut Regiment. Now post commander. Charles E. Foster, 32 Church st., New Canaan. Madison Davis, 40 Ohio ave. Benjamin F. Flowe, n Van Zant st. Joseph J. Hoffman, 37 Tierney st. W. M. Farrington, Cove ave. Christian Swartz, 272 West ave. Joseph Welsh, Concord st. George W. Roberts, Fitch’s Home for Soldiers, Noroton. Company G, 28th Conn. Infantry. William H. Lockwood, Roton ave. In Buckingham Post, G. A. R. ; Andrew Geddes, 201 Main st., Company L. First Conn. Cavalry. Samuel McGowan, 4 Newtown Terrace, Company B, 1 2th Virginian Volunteers and Co. H. 7th, N. J. Volunteers. George A. White, 6 Girard st., Co. F, 8th Conn. George W. Raymond, 17 Byington Place, Co. D, 7th Conn., died in August, 1929. What tales these men can tell! One ran away to enlist twice before he was 20; another tramped the battle-ridden highways with an Indian; a third shot snipers from atop a train. Benjamin Howe of 11 Van Zant st., of the Douglass Fowler Post, 82 years old, October 9, 1929, was a private in Company C, 69th regiment, New York infantry, and was wounded in Petersburg, March 25, 1864. Samuel McGowan of 4 Newtown Terrace, 84 on August 31, enlisted first of all in 1862 when he was not quite 16. At that time he was in Company B, 12th Virginians. He re¬ enlisted in 1864 in the 5th New Jersey, on his 20th birth¬ day, being so anxious to get back into the army that he left his home at 4 a. m. before any of the members of the 304 ROMANCE OF NORWALK family might rise to stop him and walked five miles to a recruiting station. He remained in the 5th New Jersey, until transferred to the 7th New Jersey, Company H, where he was at the close of the war. He was in the siege of Petersburg. Mr. McGowan is well-known in Norwalk where he was for 50 years connected with the Putnam Hose Co. Christian Swartz, 272 West ave., past department com¬ mander, Douglass Fowler Post, No. 48, G. A. R. and oft times referred to as “Norwalk’s Grand Old Man,” enlisted during the last year of the war at the age of 18. His regi¬ ment was in the Black Hills; therefore he was kept on post duty at Fort Snelling, a member of a company that guarded enlisted and drafted men to their regiments in the south. “The real guarding of the men took place between Louisville and Chattanooga which was infested with guerillas,” said Mr. Swartz. “After leaving Louisville, we stopped every five miles to learn if it was safe for the train to go through and if not, we were posted on top of the cars with two men at each end of the coaches to be ready for any emergency. We took no prisoners as we were not allowed to leave the coaches and were ordered to shoot on sight any one at¬ tempting to molest the train.” Andrew C. Geddes, 201 Main st., Buckingham Post, en¬ listed December 15, 1863, at the Gazette building, this city. He served in Company L, the First Connecticut Volunteer Cavalry, was first sent to a New Haven training camp, then to Baltimore and from there to the front. A descendant of the renowned Indian maiden, Pocahontas, was in the same company with Mr. Geddes. The Indian, who had a name similar to Ousa Oula, taught the men many Indian horsemanship and scouting tricks. A wound in his left ankle Mr. Geddes received on May 5, 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness. The next day, while scouting, he was cap¬ tured at Gains Church, Virginia, and spent the next seven months and seven days in the Andersonville Prison, An- dersonville, Georgia. He recalls the menu there consisted CIVIL WAR 305 chiefly of bones. Later, Mr. Geddes was transferred to Flor ence, South Carolina. Until December 12, 1864, he was paroled at Charleston. Then, after the exchange of prisoners, he went to an Annapolis hospital by steamboat. On June 16, 1865, he was discharged. In closing the account of local soldiers in the Civil War, let it be said for Norwalk business men that when the “boys” returned, most of them were given back their old jobs, while a concerted effort was made to find work for those for whom there were no places. In memory of the Norwalk men who served in the Civil War, the soldiers’ monument, Flaxhill road and West ave., was dedicated October 20, 1900. The inscription on the face reads : “Erected by the Grand Army of the Republic and Citi¬ zens of South Norwalk, in memory of her loyal sons, 1861- 1865.” PEACE AND PROGRESS Chapter XXVII Bucket Brigades Give IV ay to Hose Companies — Horse Cars Followed by Electric Trolleys — Lockwood Estate Is Show Place of Community — First Reservoir is Built — New JVater Works Bring Pure Water to City Peaceful days in Norwalk followed the close of the Civil War. No sooner had the veterans returned from the front than the families took up the threads of their lives where they had hurriedly dropped them at the first blast of the bugle, and normalcy returned to the community. Once more the brains and brawn of the town were turned to civic progress rather than to guns and gunning. Fire companies were formed for town protection; street rail¬ ways were inaugurated to speed transportation; water works were built to provide the community with pure water. FIRST FIRE COMPANIES Bucket brigades, when pails of water passed from hand to hand, were the only known means of putting out fires; hand engines which were pulled through the streets by men or horses; steam engines which ushered in the dashing, heart- thrilling days of the new era in fire equipment; and motor trucks — the Norwalk fire department has lived through them all. The year 1 8 6 1 found two fire companies already es¬ tablished in Norwalk. The companies worked separately in their own territories. Today, the city’s fires are taken care of by a centralized department with companies in various sections of the city, George W. Bogardus being the 306 PEACE AND PROGRESS 307 fire chief. William J. Powell is deputy chief in the first district; Charles A. Volk, deputy chief in the second dis¬ trict; and Frederick Wheeler, deputy chief in the third dis¬ trict. A captain heads each of the following companies: Putnam Hose company and Old Well Hook and Ladder company at the Central Fire station on Franklin st. ; the Hope Hose company on Commerce st. ; the Mayflower Hook and Ladder and Hose company on Van Zant st. ; the Phoenix Engine company, and the Pioneer Hook and Ladder company on Main st. ; the Rowayton Hose Co., Rowayton ave. The history of the Norwalk fire department dates back to the days of the bucket brigade, when many a good old farmhouse was burnt level with the ground because pails of water passed from hand to hand comprised the only resistance offered the flames. Hand pumps followed some time after the buckets. Like mad the members of the volun¬ teer companies ran down the street, dragging their hose carts and hand pumps behind them, when the great iron hoop, struck by a brawny citizen, clanged forth news of a fire. The hoop, broken on its lower curve to force a ringing sound, which was in early use here, may still be seen on the “vil¬ lage greens” of small villages in the back country. December 2, 1858, Norwalk made a big step forward in its fire protection methods, when $2,000 was appropriated for one or more fire engines and other equipment to be used for the organization of an efficient fire department. The money went to purchase an engine, a hose cart, 500 feet of hose and 22 feet of suction pipe. On December 15 of that year, the Phoenix Engine Co. was organized with Robert Crauford as foreman. The first “steamer” arrived December 31. Not proving satisfactory, it was sent back and three months later, a new one arrived. An engine house on Water st., (now Commerce st. ), was then constructed and some time later, the present engine house on Main st. “The Silk Stocking Company” was the name given to mem¬ bers who organized the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Co., 308 ROMANCE OF NORWALK January 26, 1861, but the men appeared to have been hard workers in spite of what they were called. The first fore¬ man was A. H. Wilcoxson. At the present time, the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Co. is housed wTith the Phoenix Co., on Main st. It ! ' a service ladder truck. The Phoenix Engine Co. has a La Prance pumper, a Barker machine with supply of extra hose and a La France pump on Water or Commerce st. In the two companies together there are 14 paid men and about 150 volunteers. Albert Heinie is captain of the Pioneer and Ernest Layden of the Phoenix. “One alarm only. Run like hell. Don’t stop for noise.” Such was the controlling principle of the Old Well Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, organized March 6, 1874. W. IT Jones, who afterwards acquired considerable fame as a fire fighter, was the first foreman. For some time the Old Well company was housed on Haviland st. In 1912 it moved into its new home, the central fire station on Franklin st. At the present time, it is quartered there with the Put¬ nam Hose Co. The Putnam Hose Company was organized June 9, 1875, with D. E. Merrill as foreman. Samuel Mc¬ Gowan, well known Civil War veteran of Newtown ter¬ race, fought fires with the old “Put Hose” for 50 years. During a fire in a Washington st. building he was severely injured and was incapacitated for six months. Under Chief McGowan’s direction, the fire alarm system was established in South Norwalk. The original home of the company was on Union st. In 1882 the company moved into the building which now houses the Putnam school on Franklin st. Then in 1912 with the Old Well it moved into new quarters, the Central fire station on Franklin st. This station has a La France city service truck, a 750 gallon pump, a Barker hose and chemical machine acquired in 1913; a service car for fire alarm work and for carting supplies; and a chief’s car. There are 18 paid men con¬ nected with the Central fire station and about 150 volunteers. PEACE AND PROGRESS 309 Harry Kraemer is captain of the Old Well and Stanley Tallmadge is captain of the Putnam Hose.