It all started way back in 1894 when 22 young men decided to form a volunteer fire company in Stony Point. Their first move was to purchase a hand drawn hose cart with 500 feet of hose. They had no quarters and the hose cart was kept in a barn. Then in 1897 they moved into a brick firehouse on the south side of West Main Street opposite Allison Hall, which was then the town hall. Time marches on! A new two story firehouse was constructed on the west side of Route 9W and the company moved in 1955. The community was growing and the need for better fire protection on the south side of the bridge prompted the purchasing of Station No. 2, on the west side of Central Highway, which was opened in 1974.
Over the years the company has been furnished with motor driven fire apparatus, starting with a Studebaker hose and chemical truck in 1918. Today there are three pieces of equipment housed in the main firehouse and four in Station No. 2, ranging from brush, engines and emergency trucks to a 75 foot aerial. The company also has an underwater rescue and swift water team equipped with 2 motor driven boats. All this a far cry from the old hand drawn hose cart, which we have preserved and still possess today.
Stony Point has a proud and unique record in the Volunteer Fire Service. We have been the only volunteer fire company in the United States to participate in a Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C. This was on January 20,1965 when 70 of the company’s members marched down Pennsylvania Avenue past President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Honorable James A. Farley, former Postmaster General of the United States (an honorary member of Wayne Hose Company who was born in Grassy Point) in the reviewing stand.
More to come……