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The
driving force behind organizing a fire company in South
Bowers Beach was Dr. Clawson Beswick, a dentist from
Philadelphia. Sometime in the late 1920's D. Beswick
purchased a Model "T" Ford fire truck from Upper Darby,
Pennsylvania. The truck had two seventy-five gallon
gravity tanks. It was driven to South Bowers and for a
period of time was kept in a garage owned by Clayton
Kirby until a firehouse was built on land acquired from
Sarah E. Webb in July of 1931. The company joined the
Kent County Fire Association on June 27, 1930.
Dr.
Beswick, the first president, along with Sam Powell
helped finance the building of the first fire house. The
fire house was built with the labor of its members using
concrete blocks. The second story of the fire house was
used as a social hall and meeting room. The first South
Bowers Fire Station still stands today as a reminder of
our origins.
Less
than a year after the first South Bowers Station was
built, a fire swept through South Bowers and crossed the
Murderkill River into North Bowers. Purnell Powell was
the fire chief on Saturday, April 02, 1932 when the fire
destroyed sixteen cottages, two stores and a number of
garages and outbuildings. The total damage at that time
was $39,300. South Bowers Volunteer Fire Company was one
of the twelve fire companies that came to assist our
communities.
A
new fire station was erected in Thompsonville in 1968.
The land was purchased for a nominal fee from one of its
members, Clinton Adams. The fire station was moved so
that it would be more centrally located within the
district for which the company is responsible and to
accommodate the growing year round population of
Thompsonville. The current fire house was enlarged in
1981 and is now, with the sale of the original fire
house, the home of South Bowers Volunteer Fire Company,
Station 57.
South
Bowers Volunteer Fire Company presently has 75
associate, lifetime and junior members with
approximately 35 active members. The company maintains
eight pieces of firefighting and rescue equipment,
including two engines, and engine-rescue, an 18 wheel
tanker, a brush unit, two utility vehicles, a rescue
boat, and two off-road vehicles. South Bowers Volunteer
Fire Company owns and maintains the dock and parking lot
at South Bowers, facilitating any water rescues.
The
members of the South Bowers Volunteer Fire Company have
been proud to serve the community for eighty years,
celebrating our 80th anniversary in 2007. The members
desire to continue our purpose: the preservation of life
and property and the provision of rescue services for
those in need. |
