Continuing with the story of the great North Wales fire of December 1888, we quote from the Norristown Weekly Herald of December 10, 1888:
“North Wales, the prosperous little inland town two miles below Lansdale, on the North Penn Railroad, was the scene Friday night of a disastrous conflagration, which at one time seemed likely to devastate the whole place. Many of the buildings are of [wood] frame, a brisk breeze was blowing, and that the fire was confined within its comparatively small limits was due entirely to the hard work of the amateur firemen who, with the aid of North Wales splendid water power and plenty of hose, finally quenched the flames.
“A few minutes after midnight, R. R. Freed and John Weikel discovered flames in the planing mill of Weber & Weikel, on Walnut street, near the depot. The alarm was sounded, the people turned out en masse, but the structure burned to the ground. It contained a big stock of lumber and finished work, the latter to have been shipped Saturday. The grocery and meat store of Percival Slough was also completely destroyed, some of the contents being saved in a damaged condition. Swartley Brothers feed store on the opposite side of the railroad went next, and several other buildings were fired, the intense heat inflaming the weather boarding [wood siding].
“The flames were checked after Swartley’s place was consumed, and no other buildings were burned, although many were badly scorched. The loss is estimated at about $15,000, amount of insurance unknown.”
The following also appeared in the Norristown Weekly Herald of December 17, 1888:
“On Tuesday afternoon a largely attended meeting of the citizens of North Wales was held, presided over by Judge Hamberger, as a result of which a resolution was adopted requesting the Town Council to offer a reward of $500 for the arrest and conviction of the person known to have had a hand in causing the recent fires. On Tuesday night the Town Council offered this reward and ordered the announcement to be spread abroad by hand-bills and in the newspapers. “The taxpayers of North Wales, who at first were disposed to regard the introduction of water plugs throughout the town as more a matter of ornament than utility, have changed their views since the fires. The town is supplied with water from an artesian well, the water being pumped into a basin elevated high enough above the general level of the town to throw a stream over the highest building without the use of an engine. There are two miles of water main, and 21 water plugs throughout the town.
“There is only one clue to the origin of the fires, and that is very vague. Three weeks ago an employee was discharged from Shearer’s planing mill, and he is said to have been heard by several to remark when he left, that the mill wouldn’t stand long. The man is now working in Philadelphia.”
Again quoting from the Weekly Herald we find the following: “Warned by the experience of the past week North Wales awoke to the necessity of organizing to fight further attempts at incendiarism. The borough owns a hose carriage and a thousand feet of good hose, great water pressure obviating the necessity of a steamer and enabling, a stream to be sent over the highest steeple in town. The officers of the new fire department are Chief Fire Marshal William Barger and Assistant Marshal John Weikel.”
At its meeting of December 11, 1888, after the election of a chief fire marshal, Borough Council agreed to purchase 200 feet more of hose and one nozzle. It was also agreed that the hose house committee be authorized to buy a lot from Joseph K. Anders, on Montgomery avenue [at 3rd Street] adjoining the Water Company lot, and to build a brick hose carriage house the same size as the engine house on the Water Company’s lot. [Update: the fire house “hose house” was torn down many years ago, but the water company’s engine house still stands, today occupied by Ewenited Stitches.]
In the minutes of February 4, 1889, we find that council granted an order to North Wales carriage builder Sylvester Bright for the construction of a hose carriage, amounting to fifty-four dollars and fifty cents.
At this same meeting William H. Barger resigned as a member of council and also as chief fire marshal. John Weikel was appointed as fire marshal, a post he held until 1918.
At the April 1, 1889 meeting, through the efforts of Chief Fire Marshal Weikel, council voted to pay each fireman one dollar for every fire attended. [Adjusted for inflation, that is $35 in 2025 dollars.]
The hose carriage house was completed and at the meeting of May 6, 1889 the Hose Company was authorized to get a sign, and place it in front of the hose house.
This post is sourced from a column entitled Early North Wales: Its History and Its People penned by long-time North Wales resident historian Leon T. Lewis. The article appeared in its original form in the November 3, 1959 issue of the North Penn Reporter