Westport in Brief!
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Monday, July 26, 2010
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Westport
celebrates opening of Station No. 1!
Eight to the Bar rocks the WLCT’s sixth Annual Barn
Dance.
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Westport celebrates opening of Station No. 1! EverythingWestport.com Friday, July 30,
2010 View photo album of the Grand Opening
and Dedication. 58 photos | Broadband/DSL speed | View photo album of the fire stations
construction from ground-breaking to dedication.
309 photos | Broadband/DSL speed |
It was a pride
not unlike that of a family surrounding a new born. To be sure there will be
a few future bumps in the road; budget cuts and grumbling over higher taxes.
But that’s contrition for another day. For this was a day of celebration, a
day of civic pride, a day for the community to gather as one and celebrate
the genesis of Station No. 1. Today is also
the end of an era. Westport’s first firehouse is now relegated to the dustbin
of history, shuttered for all time. The glories of its past will fade; its
memory to remain in the archives of those who care about such things. “When the trucks pulled out of the
old Central Village station for the last time, it was a bittersweet moment,”
said Fire Chief Brian Legendre. Left: Albert Lees and the Westport Fire
Department’s Honor Guard present and raise the Holiday Flag. But the path to
this day has not been an easy one. Since 1998 Westport voters consistently
rejected the concept and expense of a town safety complex, balking at a $15+
million price tag, picking thrift over perceived opulence. The 1928 Central
Village fire house was built at no cost to the town.
“Before
the first fire house in 1928, Westporters used the bucket brigade’” recalled
now deceased Calvin “Cal” Hopkinson. “But then a bunch of Westport volunteer
firefighters put up a fire station in Central Village on a lot that old Charlie
Wood leased to the town for as long as the land was used for fire prevention
purposes,” Hopkinson had said. Former
selectman and longtime farmer Charlie Costa is a 62-year member of the
Volunteer Firemen’s Association that erected that first fire house in 1928.
Left:
Fire Chief Brian Legendre with Charlie Costa.
Right: Reverend Lenard P.
Hindsley blessing the fire station. “I
remember when we were pulled out of class in our senior year to fight fires,”
Costa said. “Myself, Grouse (Calvin Hopkinson), Norman Roylance and Cukie
Macomber. We would be running down the street to jump up on the new Maxim fire
engine as it headed out.” Cukie
Macomber was the only one of the four who became a permanent firefighter. “It
was by special vote of the Selectmen,” Macomber recalled. “I wasn’t old enough
to drive the trucks, so they had to give me special permission.”
Left: Artifacts storage room. Center:
Exercise and fitness room. Right: Chief Brian Legendre’s office. Macomber
remembers those days well. “If the
truck was headed south we would jump into my car and go after it,” he said.
“If it was going north we would wait at the school and jump up on the back of
the truck as it was going by.” “Do
you know what has changed the most in firefighting since those days,”
Macomber asked? “There are no more loose hay barns in Westport! It was next
to impossible to put out burning hay. The water just wouldn’t penetrate to
the bottom where the shouldering fire was. We would have to pitch hay out the
doors to try and save the barn. It was hard work and there were no second
shifts to help out the few volunteer firefighters we had in those days. You
chocked and coughed and got sick, but you continued.
Those
days of volunteerism and Yankee thrift are now just a bit of nostalgia, as
Westport dedicated the largest public works project in its history, the new
South End Fire Station No. 1. Keith Nickelson, the president of the
firefighters’ union, said he remembered visiting the station to see his
firefighter dad, Ken, when he was young. Nickerson now has his own son with
whom he creates new memories.
“There will be a modest decline in
that number over the 20 years of the bond issue,” Schmid added. Welcome news
for some sticker-shocked Westport residents.
“This project went as smoothly as any
I can remember,” said Michael Josefek of the Architectural Consulting Group
who with the architects oversaw the design and construction. The end of an era. But with the completion of the new
fire house comes the end of an era when firemen’s associations built their
own fire stations and equipped them with town-owned equipment. Closed is the
Reed Road fire station, and closed is the Route 6 single-door fire station
that experienced its own controversy so many decades ago. Read
about the early history of the Westport Fire Department. “I’m glad this project is finished,”
said Fire Chief Brian Legendre. “It’s been a long road.” The project came off the back burner
when Westport voters approved the funding in a special town meeting on June
18, 2008.
Left: Located to the left of the apparatus bay is a newly planted American
Elm tree. The Liberty Elm is a gift to the Westport Fire Department from the
Elm Research Institute of Keene, New Hampshire, who has developed an American
variety of Elm that is resistant to the dreaded Dutch Elm disease which
virtually eliminated the native Elms between 1935 to 1963. – Westport Fire
Department’s July 30, 2010 Program. Center: The original bell from the
1933 custom-built Mack tanker truck was silver-plated and now displayed
beautifully in the foyer. Right: Barr General Contractor’s
President Robert J. Darigan receives special recognition for a job well done.
Eight to the Bar rocks the WLCT’s
sixth Annual Barn Dance. EverythingWestport.com Saturday, July 31, 2010
The Connecticut-based group brought
them all to the Land Trust’s barn dance Saturday night, and there wasn’t an
empty spot on the dance floor! “The most important aspect of this
year's Barn Dance for me was the amazing level of participation from
volunteers,” said the Westport Land Conservation Trusts’ Executive Director,
Peggy Stevens. “We had over 100 volunteers helping us with some aspect of
creating and sponsoring this year's Barn Dance - everything from cooking the
chicken, to parking cars, to striking the set the morning after the event. It
was a really fun event and we are already talking about July 30, 2011 - the
Seventh Annual Barn Dance and Land Trust Friend Raiser,” Stevens said. This outdoor fundraiser is rapidly becoming
one of Westport’s best entertainment values, and a heck of a lot of fun to
boot!
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