Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company Celebrates 100 Years Of Service

By Nancy K. Crevier

On Saturday, March 12, members and families of Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company, past and present, gathered at the firehouse on Route 302, to celebrate 100 years of service to the Town of Newtown. Joining Dodgingtown members at the semiformal dinner, prepared by members of the Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company, were the chiefs of the other local fire companies in Newtown, as well as those of surrounding communities. Members of the Newtown Board of Fire Commissioners were also on hand to fete the Dodgingtown company.

Following the dinner, guests enjoyed a slide show set to musicof Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company events and members, from years gone by and the recent past. The celebration took on a somber tone as firefighter T.J. Stuart read A Fireman’s Prayer in honor of deceased and living members, and all firefighters who have lost lives protecting others’ lives. Sarah Hayes read an original poem, as well, said Captain Joe Masso, in commemoration of the company’s 100th birthday.

Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company was incorporated March 8, 1911, two years after it was established by a group of approximately 40 men eager to protect that section of town from fire.

The company’s first fire chief, according to Town Historian Dan Cruson, was Al Bevans, a well-known farmer, restaurateur, musician, and painter. A March 10, 1961, article in The Newtown Bee, however, names William Gowen as the first fire chief of Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company.

Whichever man it was, it is known that both were charter members who contributed greatly to the company’s early growth.

When Dodgingtown Fire Company first formed, it was through the generosity of another of its earliest members, Eleazor Bevans, the father of Al Bevans, that its first firehouse came to be. Mr Bevans, whose homestead stood on Route 302 near the junction of Jacklin Road, sold a piece of his farmland to the new fire company. The one-room building erected there, most recently a storage shed for the former Montessori School on Route 302, also served as a community room.

The firehouse boasted a décor unlike most other firehouses of that day, hand painted by Al Bevans. In his book Mosaic of Newtown, Dan Cruson describes the unusual wall paintings that still remain visible in that abandoned building: “At the back of the room is a small stage or dais raised above the floor and surrounded by a proscenium arch which was decorated with a floral pattern on each side. Above the stage opening was a bird, probably an eagle, and a human figure…. It consisted of the body of an infant, looking vaguely like the infant of the New Year, with the head of a middle-aged man, probably the artist.” A frieze also runs around the top of the walls. “One feature led to the next, often following a road or the progress of a sailboat along a lake shore until it had led you around the full circuit. Occasionally, a vintage 1920s automobile was encountered on the road and the painting’s explorer frequently passed a small house or cottage.”

Newtown’s second fire company did not acquire its first motorized fire truck until its 25th anniversary, and that was thanks to the efforts of then-chief William Gowen, who arranged to have a 1927 Packard converted into a fire engine. That vehicle was in use until 1951. Fortunately for the district of Dodgingtown, the fire company now boasts three fire trucks and one command truck, including a pumper truck purchased in 2010.

In 1951, the company purchased property across Route 302 and constructed a building on the corner of Jacklin Road. In 1973, the firefighters added an additional truck space onto the lower level, and a kitchen on the main floor. But even a fire company is not immune to disaster.

A suspicious fire ravaged the building on January 24, 1981, that appeared to have been started with trash, in the third floor bar and meeting area of the firehouse. (A fire had broken out in the bar area three years prior to that, on February 26, 1978.) The fire company worked out of cramped conditions in the lower and main level, until renovations to the fire damaged building were completed.

In 2010, a new addition was added on to the Route 302 building, to accommodate the new, larger pumper truck.

Dodgingtown Fire Company has been honored over the years to receive numerous awards and medals in area parades and competitions.

Thirty-six men and women now make up the membership of Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company, under the leadership of Chief Mark White.

New volunteer members are always welcome. To join the Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company, contact Captain Joe Masso, at 203-364-9220, or visit the company during a regular Monday evening meeting at 7, at the firehouse.