History of Somerville Lincoln Hose Company No. 4

Lincoln Hose Company became a part of the Fire Company here in 1891 and was organized by a group of the youngest men interested in local fire-fighting at the time. Those who formed the company and gave it its great start were about 20 youths who had held membership in what was then known as the Engine Company Cadets. After a series of differences with the older men of the Engine Company , who displayed about the usual amount of contempt felt for "kids," the Cadets broke away from the paternal organization. It was William H. Cawley Sr. And Thomas I. Honeyman who took the fledgling fire-fighters in hand and lent their personality and influence to start them off on the proper course.

A club room was opened, furnishing a place for the young firemen to congregate, and a small hose jumper equipped with 500 feet of hose and housed in a little shed in the rear of Layton’s old blacksmith shop on Woodlawn Street, the new company was ready to help defend the town against fires. By slow but sure stages, this organization attained prominence, and soon erected a three-story headquarters building on Warren Street, which was used until completion of what is now the Lincoln Hose Firehouse. The old building was sold to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1969, and the new building was dedicated September 14, 1974. Always an independent bunch of fire fighters, the new $100,000 headquarters of Lincoln Hose was built by the firemen with funds from the company’s treasury without any cost to local taxpayers.

The Links had two fine teams in the days of horse-drawn apparatus. Maud and Grace, beautiful white mares, served the company 1901 until 1910, when they were replaced by a team of dapple grays, Duke and Barron. This team pulled the company’s chemical and hose wagon until it was motorized. Lincoln Hose had only one chief driver of its teams. Larry Austin joined the company in 1900 and was made head driver in 1901. He handled both teams of horses and was chief driver of the motor truck until his death.

In 1935, the Packard with the company’s chemical and hose wagon mounted on top was replaced with a LaFrance triple combination 600 GPM apparatus. This truck carried a foam generator and was the first truck in the Borough to have a mounted deluge gun. In line with the Borough’s policy of purchasing a new apparatus for each company after 20 years, the "Links" gained a more modern 1000 GPM American LaFrance pumper in 1955. In 1975, a 1250 GPM Mack pumper was purchased. A 1993 E-One Hush 1500 GPM Pumper with pre-piped foam and a ten-man cab is in service today.

Lincoln Hose Company No. 4 Today