|
| |
Fire Department
Truck Company No. 2
(Excelsior)
1873: 103 Washington Street
55 Plane Street
|
|
Fire Department Deaths & Causalities:
Hook
and Ladder Company No. 2 – John Backman, driver, was injured by the breaking
of forward axle of truck whilst proceeding to the fire in the rear of No. 283
Broad Street, June 20th, Box 47, 37 days off duty.
From Hank Przybylowicz
The construction of a new firehouse for Truck Co. 2, at 55 Plane Street, was started in 1881. Truck 2 moved into the building on Thanksgiving Day, 1882. In June of 1929, Truck 2 moved to their new quarters, with Engine 4, to High Street. Their Plane Street quarters was eventually sold, as was several other firehouses.
Up until 1913, engines and trucks were quartered in separate buildings. Even though Truck 5's house was attached to Engine 12's, on Belmont Avenue, it was a separate building, having been built five years after Engine 12's.
Contrary to popular belief, the Avon Avenue firehouse was the first one built to house both an engine and a truck. Many think it was the Mulberry Street firehouse, but that building was never built to house Engine 1. They didn't move in there until 1911, a full three years after the house was placed in service.
During, and after, the Great Depression, many of the firehouses were remodeled and engines and trucks were moved in together. Engine 4 and Truck 2, Engine 5 and Truck 4, Engine 7 and Truck 3, Engine 15 and Truck 7, and Engine 16 and Truck 8, were the main ones. Truck 6 was the only single truck house up until 1967, when they were moved to the new firehouse with Engine 13.
According to the 1889 Newark atlas, the original building adjacent to Truck 2, on Plane Street, was a much smaller, detached brick building, measuring about 25-by-30-feet. The 1901 atlas shows a much larger structure, which had been attached to Truck 2. The building was brick and measured 27-by-100-feet, and was occupied as the J. McCurdy Storehouse. The smaller building apparently had been demolished and a larger one built in its place. The 1911 and 1926 atlases shows the same building, but unidentified.
| |
|
