LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JANUARY 15, 2023 by Lynne Belluscio For two weeks I’ve been writing the labels for the jewelry exhibit at the Woodward Library. I told Trish Riggi that it would be ready last week, but it’s taken a bit longer. The idea came from the book, “Read My Pins” by former Secretary of State, Madeline Albright. Obviously, her pin collection is much more significant than mine, but it’s been fun to put my stories down on paper. I also added some other jewelry from my jewelry drawer that had some interesting stories. There’s the story about the collection of bug pins – presents from former employees at Genesee Country Museum. And the story of my butter print earrings. One pin came from Norway and includes the story of the stave churches and the dragons. One small pin that has a LeRoy story is my SPAMFAA pin. SPAMFAA is the Society for the Preservation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus of America. I became a member when I was working at Genesee Country Museum and was in charge of their fire muster. That muster wasn’t for motorized equipment. It was to showcase hand and horsedrawn equipment and I discovered there was a lot in this area, including the three fantastic pieces in LeRoy - The Oatka hose reel, the Excelsior hook and ladder wagon, and the Chemical wagon. All these pieces of equipment had a specific job. The hose cart carried a long section of hose. It was pulled by four to eight men and could be connected to a hand pumper so that water could be sprayed on the fire. The ladder wagon is a marvelous piece of equipment. It carries ladders and buckets. Obviously, ladders were necessary at a fire to reach upper levels of a building. The buckets were necessary for a bucket brigade. The fastest man would go up the ladder, and others below him would hand up buckets of water. The buckets were thrown down to the ground and retrieved and filled again. In New York State there are some very exciting competitions with some very “souped up” motorized equipment, but that’s another story and I don’t have room to write about it. The chemical wagon is a huge chemical fire extinguisher. It weighs over 3000 pounds. The Chemical Hose Company was formed in 1885, and in 1985 they celebrated their centennial and they published a great history of firefighting in LeRoy. It includes a list of major fires, fire chiefs, and a list of equipment. In 1834, the village trustees posted that every bell ringer of a public bell was to ring the bell for twenty minutes unless the fire was extinguished. Every householder or occupant was to keep one or more buckets for every fireplace or stove. Two buckets were required if there were four fireplaces or stoves. All the buckets were to be marked with the owner’s name and if the bucket wasn’t kept in a conspicuous place, there would be a two-dollar penalty. National Fire Protection Week is in October during the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire which occurred on October 8, 1871. In LeRoy, the fire department works with the Wolcott Street School to provide educational programming during Fire Protection Week. Nearly 40 years before the Great Chicago Fire, a fire occurred in New York City that had an immense impact on LeRoy. On December 16, 1835, a fire broke out in the financial district in lower Manhattan. Seventeen city blocks burned. Its impact on the LeRoy family was monumental. Herman LeRoy and his company, which was one of the largest in NewYork, lost everything in the fire. His offices and “counting house” – where they kept their money was burned to the ground. There is no record of how the family dealt with the disaster, but very shortly after, Jacob LeRoy and his family moved back to New York City and never returned to LeRoy where his father hoped to retire. All these stories came back to me as I polished the little SPAMFAA pin. You are all invited to stop by the Library to see the pins and read the stories. Read My Pins - - And Earrings
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