History of the Mount Tabor Volunteer Fire Department's First Years (1910-35)

The Mount Tabor Volunteer Fire Department was organized on June 11, 1910, under the direction of the Mount Tabor Camp Meeting Association, to protect life and property of the homes in Mount Tabor and surrounding areas from fire's angry rage. Supplied with two hand-drawn hose carts, 30 concerned residents became charter members and George W. Earl was named first chief and elected first president of the company. Officers of the department were subject to the board of trustees' approval. The chief was also the town superintendent as all fire calls were initiated from the Camp Meeting office. The super lived in an association-owned residence across the street from the office. The department was divided into two hose companies each with a hand-drawn hose cart, and set of officers including an assistant chief, foreman and assistant foreman. Company No. 1 was located on Simpson Avenue by the C.M.A. office. Company No. 2 was located on the top of the hill, by the water-retaining reservoir, on North Place. The original draft of the department’s by-laws was approved on Dec. 21, 1911.

The first major fire to challenge the volunteers occurred in April of 1912, at the Old Saw Mill on the corner of what is now Route 53 and Front Street in Denville (the original territory included part of Denville). The fire proved too much for the hose cart system of fire fighting and the building was lost; what wasn’t lost was the men’s enthusiasm and desire to improve. In the summer of 1912, in what was the volunteers' first method of fund raising, a concert was held and netted $203.60. Members purchased the first regulation type uniforms in the summer of 1913; it took three years for all members to be outfitted alike. The uniform at that time consisted of a hat, dark pants, white shirt and bow tie. Firemen were required to purchase their own badge at a cost of 50 cents a piece. That same year a 500-pound bell was installed to notify the members of a fire call. The Mount Tabor Volunteer Fire Department was incorporated on Feb. 11, 1915.

In April 1918, eight standard rubber fire-fighting coats were purchased in various sizes at a cost of $5 each. The territorial boundaries of the Mount Tabor Fire Department were defined by the department's boundary committee, which reported “The territory under the protection of the Mount Tabor Volunteer Fire Department are all those properties included in the following boundary lines. Beginning and including the property of Chas. Wythe; thence along the north side of the Parsippany Road to the Macadam Road, thence a direct line to and including the property of F.E. Parks, thence following the Ridge of Beacon Mountain in a northeasterly direction to and including the property of George W. Dickerson, thence in an easterly direction along the Fox Hill Road, including all houses on the north side facing this road to and including the Williams farm, thence to the place of beginning.”

Requesting a contribution of $1 per household, the first fund drive letter requesting donations from property owners and other interested parties was circulated in August of 1919 and this venture netted a total of $201.

On June 19, 1920 the Fire Department of Mount Tabor joined the New Jersey State Exempt Fireman’s Association. Later that year in October, a committee was appointed to consider the purchase of a motorized chemical apparatus to supplement the hose carts. This was completed in March l923 with the purchase of a $5,000 Buffalo Water Pumper with a 30-gallon pressed-steel terne-lined water reserve on an REO speed wagon chassis, under Chief Earl and President Albert D. Dickerson. This modern motorized fire apparatus got plenty of use as it was at the time the only pumper between Morristown and Dover. The old firehouse on Simpson Avenue; which was used previously for bell ringing, hosedrying, socializing and regular meetings; had to undergo extensive remodeling to house this proud addition. After gaining permission from the Mount Tabor Board of Trustees, work began to convert the building to the first “permanent” fire headquarters and engine room.

In November of 1923, a sterling hand crank siren was purchased from the Rochester Stamping Co. for the new truck at a cost of $35. It was not until November of 1925 that a portable heater and permanent electric lights were purchased and installed in the firehouse.

The Mount Tabor Fire Headquarters was first used in 1929 as an election-polling place. A use fee of $20 was charged for the use of the engine room. The same system applies for elections today. On March 14, 1929 the volunteers voted to join the North Jersey Volunteer Firemen’s Association. The first Mount Tabor delegates to the N.J.V.F.A. were Elmer Dickerson and Clarence E. Simonson with Albert Dickerson, Robert Cantrell and George Dickerson as alternates. In I928, the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills was incorporated.

As the 1930s rolled in, the newly formed Parsippany-Troy Hills Township took a more active interest in the Mount Tabor Fire Department. An appropriation of $350 was made by the township to help with running expenses in as much as they were to take care of a much larger territory in Parsippany-Troy Hills. For two fall months in 1930, the department held their regular meetings in the Lounge Room of the Arlington Hotel on Simpson Avenue. There was much discussion on the fire company’s request that the Lounge Room be left intact for the fire departments use during the winter months, in the event the hotel was to be torn down. Contrary to popular belief, the Arlington Hotel was not destroyed by fire, but was taken down by its owner. Part of the stone foundation is still present as the retaining wall of the community parking lot between the Methodist church and Durban Avenue. In one of the more interesting methods of raising funds, 1930 saw the fire department chance off two tons of coal, one ton at a time, to help raise money. In 1931, the Mount Tabor Volunteers established a “depression fund” with which throughout the Great Depression provided Christmas dinner baskets yearly to as many as sixty-five families who were in need.

On their first anniversary on March 13, 1935, the Ladies Auxiliary of the Mount Tabor Volunteer Fire Department was organized. There were 40 charter members and the first president was Mrs. Harry Goble. On their first anniversary on March 13, 1935. The Ladies Auxiliary celebrated with a “1st Birthday Party” at which the firemen presented the ladies with a gavel. A much appreciated support group of the fire department.

On April 11, 1935 in the first recorded mutual-aid pre-planning program, Chief Earl declared that “in case of a fire at the schoolhouse that this department call Denville Fire Department to assist us.” On Mount Tabor’s Annual Children’s Day 1935, the first parade of fire trucks participated in the Saturday evening parade. The invited departments consisted of the Lake Parsippany Fire Department, Parsippany-Troy Hills Fire Association, Rainbow Lakes Fire Department and the Denville Fire Department.

In September 1935, at the annual election of officers, with the foresight of the major changes to come, the department bylaws were amended to read: “Any member of the fire department may be eligible for election to the office of chief of the department beginning September 1936.” At the same time, the two hose companies were to be eliminated. This concluded the “first” 25 years of the Mount Tabor Volunteer Fire Department.

More info can be found at www.MountTaborFD.com