Events Timeline

July 14 & 15 1942 Captain John J. Cooney & Captain Frank J. Fox attended the Bomb Reconnaissance School held at the State Trade School of Bridgeport, Conn.

Aware of the danger of fire in the growing village and anxious to reduce the high cost of insurance coverage, a mutual fire insurance company was formed by John Davenport, Jr., David Maltbie, Samuel Jarvis, George Mills and John William Holly. The constitution of the Stamford Mutual Insurance Co., dated February 20, 1797, limited it to houses valued at $500 or more. Policies were to be activated when 30 subscribers signed. It is not know if the company actually got going.

On July 4, 1829, The Minutes of the Civil Authority and Select Men of Stamford, Daniel Lockwood, Chm. And Charles Hawley, Clerk, record that 16 men were appointed members of and "constituted the Stamford Fire Engine Company."
The men appointed were: Jonathan B. Waterbury, William H. Holly, John W. Leeds, Seth Miller, Davis Lockwood, Peter Smith 3rd, William H. Adams, John A. Finney, William Ingraham, Washington Webb, Frederick Webb, Philander Daskam, George S. Smith, Alanson Knapp, Rufus Hoyt and Sylvester Webb.

The Borough of Stamford was incorporated late in the spring of 1830 and embraced 663 people in 92 families. [The Sentinel editor on June 8, 1830, stated "This includes an area of about three-fourths of a mile square, 68 dwelling houses…four [churches], 11 stores, 28 mechanic shops, 2 public and 5 private schools, a town house, a printing office, a flour mill, an extensive tannery, 3 large stone buildings for rolling iron, and 663 inhabitants [out of 3,705 for the whole Town]."

On November 16, 1830, the editor of The Sentinel in Stamford, CT. wrote: "Whatever became of the fire engine left in this Borough, for trial of its powers, a few weeks since, preparatory to make a purchase? We believe those who were anxious to obtain one, have forgotten the circumstance, as we have hardly heard it named of late that a machine of the kind was in the neighborhood.
"We invite the attention of all those concerned to the subject tomorrow afternoon at 4 o'clock, at Mr. Waring's. Punctual attendance of the members of the Fire Company would be gratefully acknowledged by all interested in devising some measure to guard not only private but public property from destruction by fire. The cold season fast approaches when fire becomes necessary to comfort, and destruction of property by its getting the mastery is the most frequent."

[If this meeting was ever held, we cannot find a report. --RDT]

"Saturday morning…fire broke out in the tannery of [James] and Boyton near the Noroton River Bridge and the buildings together with a quantity of _____ and other stock entirely consumed. $2500 of stock was insured."

On April 28, 1832, with Charles Hawley, Chm., 6 new men were added "to fill vacancies." The roster then included: Alanson H. Knapp, Geo. S. Smith, Wm. H. Ingraham, Sands Seely, Alfred A. Holly, John A. Ingraham, Moses Smith, Washington Webb, Austin G. Clark, Sylvester L. Webb, Charles Horton, William H. Webb, John A. Finney, John Gaylor, Isaac M. Smith and George Provost.

The Advocate [then named the Intelligencer] started in the summer of 1829… in a small building on the south side of the present West Park. Here it was burned out on July 4, 1832, and the business was removed to premises on the west side of Atlantic Square where the Town Hall now stands.
[According to the Advocate's 150th Anniversary issue, April 7, 1979, pg. 65: "It was soon burned out a second time and moved up to Clark's Hill..."]

In 1844 Stamford entered a period of rapid growth as the Northeast emerged from a recession. The granting of a charter for a railroad and the opening of the first of two telegraph offices excited commercial interests. In the span of just a few months, new Methodist and Universalist Church buildings were dedicated, the prominent Stage House (later named Stamford House) was refurbished and enlarged, and the lavish Union House (later called Grand Union Hotel) was opened. Population, which had been shrinking , spurted upward.
In the decade from 1840 to 1850, the Town increased 42% while the Borough increased 133%! This meant new housing, new stores, new mechanic's shops, new factories, warehouses, livery stables, etc. The streets were rapidly filling in with frame structures, sometimes jammed shoulder to shoulder, and the yards were cluttered with tinderbox barns and sheds. The value of property needing protection overwhelmed the Borough's meager fire-fighting facilities.

The first reference in Borough records* relating to firemen in Stamford is dated August 11, 1844, when at a meeting of the freemen it was "resolved that the borough will purchase two fire engines with hoes (sic), hooks, ladders, etc. as the necessity of the Borough may require." To pay for the engine, a tax of 10 mills on the dollar was levied and James B. Scofield was paid ten dollars for collecting it. [Only one engine was purchased at the time.]
*Note: The words "first reference" and "Borough records" in this valuable 1892 sourcebook may have led historians to ignore the earlier Town records.

CHARTER, RIPPOWAM FIRE CO., JUNE 1845: "Upon a petition of Sands Seely, Lorenzo Meeker and others praying for a fire company in the borough of Stamford: "Resolved, That Sands Seely, Lorenzo Meeker, James H. Minor and such other persons residing in the borough of Stamford as shall associate with them, not exceeding thirty in the whole, be and they are hereby constituted a corporation and fire company, by the name of "THE RIPPOWAM FIRE COMPANY; which company shall have power to appoint the necessary officers...etc."

Rippowam company's first annual meeting in 1845 elected Sands Seely foreman, James H. Minor assistant, S. K. Satterlee secretary, and C. H. Leeds treasurer.