MFD & Early Fires

            The town of Millinocket was chartered on March 16, 1901. Shortly after, Pioneer Hose Company #1 was organized on May 2, 1901 after a special town meeting. It was to be a volunteer fire department, equipped with hose and small hand reels. William Heebner (Heebner’s Drug Store) was in charge the first year. Fred M. Gates was selected fire chief in 1902. He held the position until 1936 (also chief of police).

By 1905, a fire station was constructed on Penobscot Avenue (current site of Municipal Building). Pioneer Hose Company added a hose wagon, a ladder wagon, and two pairs of horses which were housed at the new station. In winter, the wagons were converted to horse-drawn sleds. A Gamewell fire alarm system was set up in the fire station and throughout town. The museum has on display a piece of this original system that came from Millinocket’s first fire station. A few years later, two motorized trucks were on site, a 1911 Knox and a 1913 Knox (a gift from GNP).

            Early on, fires occurred frequently throughout town as most of the buildings had been quickly constructed using many flammable materials. There were several in the early days that received attention in the newspapers.

            July 4, 1901 -The Little Northern, a GNP owned boarding house at the intersection of Penobscot Ave. & Poplar St. This was thought to be caused by someone tossing firecrackers through a basement window. Another boarding house, the Brunswick House (Katahdin Ave.) partially burned. A millworker (Joseph Perry) on his way home stopped to help and died in the fire.

            May, 1906 George W. Stearns & Co. factory offices were totally destroyed by fire of undetermined origin. (Location??) In 1910, the GNP Engineer’s House on the mill site caught fire. The 2^nd floor was destroyed, but the first floor was saved. This building is shown in many of the early mill site photos.

            1912, the Opera House, a three-story building with movie theater and meeting hall had a fire. Afterwards, the building was changed to two stories with the grand front entrance being replaced by a corner entrance.

           1921, Millinocket High School & Common School was totally destroyed in a nighttime fire. It was located where Katahdin Avenue School would open in the 1931.

            January, 1924, the original Victorian-style Baptist Church was destroyed by fire. In the following years, a new church in the colonial style was rebuilt on the same site. Photos in the Laverty book show the differences in the outward appearance of that church from the first church.

            The original MFD firehouse with its belltower was razed in 1949 to make way for the new municipal building. A new firehouse was constructed on Aroostook Avenue. That firehouse is still in use today.

1913 MFD