old photos        History of the               
Perseverance Volunteer
Fire Co. No. 1

In 1896 Souderton Borough installed a water system and
formed the first fire company. They purchased two hand
pulled hose carts and 1000 feet of hose . One truck was
placed at Central Avenue and the other at Broad Street.
The firemen were paid by the borough when they
respond on calls during this time.

But on August, 12 1901 they were called to Michael
Clemmer's house on Chestnut Street which only suffered
minor damage. A slow response by the fire company
outraged the residents of the borough, and a special
meeting was held on August, 15 1901. The meeting at
Borough Hall led to the start of Perseverance Volunteer
Fire Company No. 1 on October, 4 1901 with 23 active
members.

At that time facilities were few and equipment scarce
and ill suited for the work, but with a real pioneering
spirit that nucleus of 23 men built an organization that
Souderton can still be proud of today. Fighting it's way
up from the bucket brigade, the firemen rapidly
progressed using two 1896 hand drawn hose carts until
1910 when a horse or hand drawn ladder wagon was
added. In 1912 a hand drawn 45 gal. chemical cart was
purchased. The year of 1918 saw the beginning of
motorization with the addition of a 1917 Ford Model T
chemical truck with two 30 gal. chemical tanks. In 1920
the first motorized pumper was purchased a 500gpm.
Packard which was the envy of all the communities
around and our first towards modernized fire equipment.

On August, 6 1915 a motion was made and carried to
purchase a lot on Main Street from H.S. Souder for
$1290. On January, 7 1921 the mortgage for the lot was
paid in full and destroyed. July, 24 1925 the company
decided to build on the lot and to get a loan from Union
National Bank of Souderton for the sum of $20,000 and
6% interest to build a new firehouse. The building was
dedicated May, 29 1926.

On September, 5 1950 the company purchased a four
acre lot on North Second Street for the amount of $7500
for the future site of a new firehouse. In 1954 a three
bay garage and a bandstand were build on the lot to be
used for carnivals, also at this time a ice skating pond
and ball field added. The lot was used for carnivals until
1959 when Montgomery County stopped all gambling.

By 1964 the firehouse on Main Street was over crowed
with five fire trucks an a ambulance there was no room
to walk around anymore. In 1965 the company decided
to build a new seven bay firehouse which would include
meeting, storage, chief, and engineer rooms and a
recreation room in the basement. The firehouse only cost
$98,500 dollars to build thanks to over 6,000 hours of
labor donated by the members and support by area
businesses. The first meeting at the new firehouse was
held in December, 1966, but the building was not
completed until 1967. The building was dedicated June
17 1967 and is still in use today with a addition which
was completed 1979 to house or museum and more
storage. The second half of the plan was to build a
banquet hall to the rear of the firehouse, but in was
never built.

During the month of February, 1949 Souderton Fire Dept.
was called to assist Harleysville, and Telford Fire Depts.
at a house fire near Harleysville. It was extremely cold
that morning and everyone working at that fire would
have given anything for a cup of coffee. So in July, 1949
a group of 15 men all active members of the company
organized the North Penn Goodwill Service. Which would
take food and beverages to police and fire departments
at anytime and anywhere. They received there charter in
March, 1951.

Over the years the company has had many types of
alarms to notify our members of calls. In the beginning a
locomotive wheel was placed on the roof of a store on
Main Street. Then in 1903 a steam siren was placed on
the Inland Traction Co. power house with a star alarm
system until 1909. In 1909 a electric alarm system in
connection with a large bell was placed on top of
Borough Hall and moved to Main Street firehouse in
1926. In 1923 five alarm boxes were placed around town
the would set off the siren. When new telephones were
installed at the firehouse men would take turns sleeping
there to answer the phone and set off the siren. The
phone was answered by restaurant during the day so the
men could go to work. In 1943 a phone was installed at
Hunsicker Funeral Home and they would take night time
calls and set off the siren. Then later on a answering
service on Diamond Street would take all the calls and
set off the siren. Now we're dispatched by the
Montgomery County Dispatch Center.