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Station 4 (Headquarters) - Centerville
2372 Whitney Avenue
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The historical outline below is taken from the program for
the Second Annual Hamden Firemen's Memorial Service,
held at Memorial Town Hall on June 10, 1934.
The History Committee for the event consisted of
Messrs. Ralph Eno, Michael J. Whalen, and Harold G. Emerson.
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| Centerville Co. 4 (left) in 1908 (Photo courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society) |
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The Centerville Volunteer Fire Association was incorporated in 1905. In 1907, they built their first station on town property approximately where the apparatus ramp is today. It was razed when the Memorial Town Hall building was erected in 1924.
Like all of the other town volunteer fire companies at the time, the Centerville fire company was an independent fire department until the Hamden Fire Department was created by an act of the State Legislature in 1925. The act brought all of Hamden's fire companies under the umbrella of one municipal fire department.
In the photo above, the building on the right still stands, although it is scheduled for demolition in conjunction with the ongoing renovation to the old town hall. The building can also be seen in the photo below, as well as in several other photos taken in later decades (see the Reilly's fire webpage, which can be accessed from the ACTION webpage).
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| Station 4 - c. 1925 (Photo courtesy of Wayne Chorney) |
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When the Memorial Town Hall was constructed in 1924, the town provided room for the Centerville fire company in the northeast corner of the new building. This is what Station 4 looked like before the bay doors faced Whitney Avenue. When responding to emergencies, apparatus had to make a 90 degree turn after pulling out of the station in order to exit onto Whitney Avenue. Construction to move the bay doors from the School Street side of the building to the Whitney Avenue side began in November 1939. Official Town of Hamden stationery continued to show a rendering of the pre-1939 configuration until well into the 1970s.
The building next door with the American Legion billboard is still standing, although the billboard is long gone. The building is scheduled for demolition in conjunction with the currently anticipated renovations to Station 4.
This previously unpublished photo was taken by an employee of the United Advertising Co. around 1925. The original negative was discovered in a Whalley Avenue antique store several years ago.
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Old view of Station 4 bay doors.
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| 1938 - Squad i.f.o. old Station 4 bay doors (Photo by G. Donald Steele) |
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| 1938 - Rear view of 1938 Seagrave Canopy Cab pumper i.f.o. old Station 4 bay doors (Photo by G. Donald Steele) |
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| 1940 |
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| Richie Lostritto - March 22, 1954 |
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| c. 1942 |
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| c. 1940 - Company 4 Volunteers |
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Headquarters - Monday, June 2, 1952
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| June 2, 1952 - Headquarters (Photo courtesy of Richie Lostritto) |
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L-R: Firefighter Richard Lostritto, Capt. Paul Leddy, Firefighters Julius Norman, Joe Collins, Ray Carofano and Paul Rosadina, and "most of all trusted mascot, 'Blackie' the dog."
The 1938 Diamond-T Squad is parked in the left bay and the 1939 Diamond-T pumper in the right.
This classic photo, taken at Headquarters on June 2, 1952, was sent to the website by retired Supt of Alarms and Apparatus Richie Lostritto. It is the oldest color photo we have received so far. Richie sent along more than a dozen more photos and news articles that will be posted in the near future. Thank you, Richie!!
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| CLICK on this photo for more photos |
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Memorial Town Hall in the 1960s
This postcard photo (c. 1960) is a nice view of Memorial Town Hall. Notice the electric "HAMDEN" sign above the entrance. It was placed there for Hamden's 1936 sesquicentennial and remained until the early 1970s.
Grace Episcopal Church can be seen in its original location on the north side of Dixwell Avenue, right next to the town hall. The Town bought the church's property for future expansion (now in progress) and the church building was moved across Dixwell Avenue to its present location 45 years ago this month. The website thanks Kris Beirne for preserving the remarkable photos below, taken by I.A. Sneiderman, and for donating the images to the HFRA.
Posted 9/2/11
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| c. 1962 - Headquarters - Rescue 2 (1960 International) and Engine 4 (1954 Maxim 750). The 1958 and 1957 Fords at right look fairly new. (Photo courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society) |
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| November 1963 - Engine 4 and Rescue 2 are out! (Vaccaro photo) |
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With the exception of the antique upholstered chair used by the watchman and the old rotary dial telephone, this is pretty much the way the apparatus floor looked the day Station 4 closed for renovations 46 years later.
Note that the Link speaker and ship's wheel barometer, which can be seen in the color photo above of Richie Lostritto, taken nearly ten years earlier. The window between the Alarm Room and the apparatus floor was added in 1958 and may account for why the watch desk seen in the 1954 photo was gone by late 1963.
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| Station 4 - November 1963 - Clockwise L-R: Paul Reutenauer, Gil Spencer, John Hoffman, and Milner Benham (Vaccaro photo) |
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| September 1966 (Photo by I.A. Sneiderman - courtesy of Kris Beirne) |
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September 1966 - Except for the 1960 Dodge in the background, this photo looks like it could have been taken this past week, as work on Station 4 renovations continues into its third year. This 1966 photo shows the PW folks rebuilding the parking area on the north side of Station 4.
Posted 9/30/11
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| Fire safety in the home sometimes starts in a fire station (Photo courtesy of Tom Doherty) |
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May 1971 - One of the best ways to promote fire safety in the home is through public education programs directed at elementary school children. We've all done it many times. Here, Lt. Tom Doherty gives school kids the grand tour of Station 4, starting with the 1968 Maxim S-model 1000 GPM pumper.
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| May 1971 - Getting Ready for the Parade (Photo courtesy of Tom Doherty) |
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An annual ritual for all Hamden firefighters is to freshen up apparatus cosmetics for the Memorial Day Parade. By May 1971, the International Travel-al that had been Rescue 2 since 1960 was getting pretty tired. It was replaced six months later. Bob Viglione and Walt Macdowall are seen here performing routine pre-parade cosmetic maintenance. (Until November 1971, "Rescue 2" was the designation of the rescue unit assigned to Station 4.)
1971 was the first year that federal law set the date for Memorial Day as the last Monday in May. From 1868 until 1970, Memorial Day was always observed on May 30th regardless of the day of the week.
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| c. 1973 - Lt. Gil Spencer and Ff. Bob Kenney atop Engine 4 (looks like the '68 Maxim) |
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| c. 1973 - Chief V. Paul Leddy's 1968 Chrysler i.f.o. Headquarters. The Chief and Fire Marshal shared a small office on the second floor of Memorial Town Hall, at the top of the north stairwell. (Photo courtesy of Clark Hurlburt) CLICK to enlarge. |
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| 1985 stern view of Engine 4 (Photo by Ed Doiron, Jr.) CLICK to enlarge |
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| April 1988 - Station 4, Platoon 2 - L-R: Ron Desroches, Bill Fitzmaurice, Bob Anthony, Harold Prescher, Capt. Mike Ambriscoe, and Cmdr. Joe McDermott. (CLICK to enlarge) |
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| May 1983 - The 5-6 p.m. "mill." Rich Mayhew and Don Buechele, as we were waiting for the night shift to show up. (CLICK to enlarge) |
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| 1985 - Platoon 4, Station 4 - (L-R): Firefighters Bob Surprise, George Patten, Don Buechele, John Longo and Lt. Dave Strawhince. The 1000 GPM Pierce Dash pumper was only a few months old. It was recently sold for scrap. Photo courtesy of Dave Strawhince (Posted 7/29/11) |
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| September 1991 - Cmdr. Joe McDermott's Final Day on the Job |
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Joe McDermott commanded Platoon Two from May 1973 until his retirement at the end of September 1991. On the final day of Platoon 2's day shift, September 27, 1991, Chief John Tramontano escorted Cmdr. McDermott to all fire stations so his guys could wish him a happy, healthy and long retirement. Joe is now living in Branford and is still going strong.
Pictured L-R: Capt. Dave Johnson, Ron Desroches, Bob Anthony, Cmdr. Bill Coppola, Cmdr. McDermott, Chief Tramontano, Bill Fitzmaurice, Ed Doiron, and Jim Dunlop. (Photo taken by Bob Macauley)
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The End of an Era!
Old Station 4 Closes
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Tuesday, September 22 - At approximately 3:45 this afternoon Station 4 was vacated as the Squad and its three-man crew rolled down the ramp onto Whitney Avenue and headed to a new temporary home at Station 3, as work soon begins on a complete renovation of the apparatus floor and living quarters. This will be the first major structural renovation of Station 4 since 1940, when the bay doors were moved to face Whitney Avenue and the Alarm Room was added.
Until the job is done, the Squad will run out of Station 3. Rescue 1 will run out of Station 5. With Station 4 closed, Engines 2, 5 and 9 will have expanded first alarm territories for the duration of the renovation, which is expected to take from 18 to 24 months.
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The spiral staircase and sliding pole were unique to Station 4. The pole afforded a somewhat more expeditious way of getting to the apparatus floor (vs. the spitral staircase). Anyone who ever worked there had to learn just how to slide the pole. And doing it in short sleeves could be challenging.
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L-R: Firefighters Craig Smart, Ed Hilbert and Lt. Dave Proulx pose on the apparatus floor next to the only sliding pole ever installed in a Hamden fire station. Less than fifteen minutes later, these three guys mounted the Squad as the last crew to leave "old" Station 4. In 18 to 24 months, a totally "new" Station 4, in the same location, will be ready for occupancy. Although the spiral staircase will be gone, there will be a pole.
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| The Squad leaves 4's (as we knew it) for the last time |
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Station 4 Renovation (2009 - ?)
Late 2011 Update
Posted 9/2/11
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| c. 1907-24 |
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| 1924-2009 |
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Until two years ago, fire department apparatus had been stationed on Whitney Avenue in Centerville since Company 4 was organized in 1907. From 1908 until 1924, Company 4 was quartered in a two-and-a-half story wood frame building on the north side of the old town hall.
When the Memorial Town Hall was built in 1924, a new fire station was incorporated into the northeast corner of the building. Company 4 was provided with a meeting room in the new building, which their members continued to use until the last member passed away in the 1990s.
The fire station at Memorial Town Hall was officially "Fire Headquarters" until the chief's office was relocated to the old Centerville School (now Miller Library) in 1974, at which time the town hall fire station became "Station 4." The chief's office returned to the town hall in the late 1970s, occupying two different basement areas until 1989. But Station 4 remained "Station 4."
In an article published in The New Haven Register on March 14, 1966, Chief V. Paul Leddy noted that the town hall fire station, "is too old and too small to accommodate the proper apparatus, offices and living quarters." The same month, a Hamden Chronicle editorial referred to the station as "inadequate and poorly located," a opinion shared by many in the department in the four-plus decades since.
Today, a multi-million dollar addition to Memorial Town Hall is in progress. The project includes a renovation of the fire station - the first since 1940. When the job is done, it will be interesting to see how Chief Leddy's concerns of 45 years ago have been addressed.
Since September 22, 2009, Station 4 apparatus have been temporarily reassigned to other quarters. The Squad (formerly Engine 4) is at Station 3 and Rescue 1 is assigned to Station 5. Original estimates for the completion of the renovation of Station 4 were eighteen to 24 months. Station 4 is now expected to reopen sometime after January 2012. We'll keep you posted.
Posted 9/2/11
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After the horrendous June flood of 1982, the fire department purchased several metal flat bottom rowboats. One of them (pictured above) was stored at Station 4, suspended from the ceiling above Engine 4. On a warm summer night in 1983, when boredom overcame a one-horned prankster who was stationed there, the tiny vessel was christened with stick-on letters as a tribute to a non-uniformed department member. The boat still hung there well into the 1990s.
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