2014 -- S 3059

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LC005830

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2014

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

CELEBRATING THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF HOPE-JACKSON

FIRE COMPANY

     Introduced By: Senator Nicholas D.Kettle

     Date Introduced: June 03, 2014

     Referred To: Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar

     WHEREAS, Scituate, Rhode Island, was once a manufacturing center thanks in large part

to the ingenuity of the Brown Brothers and Stephen Hopkins, who purchased land in the Village

of Hope and established the Hope Furnace company for making iron, and where canons were cast

for the American Revolutionary War effort; and

     WHEREAS, Scituate soon became a vibrant manufacturing community, due in part to its

abundance of water. It had large mills producing cotton and woolen goods, shoes and shoe laces,

combs, and other assorted goods. However, all of this manufacturing also brought with it a fear of

fires and how to deal with them; and

     WHEREAS, In the early 1920's, the residents of the Hope Village area came together and

decided that a volunteer fire company was needed. Otis Luther, Charles Campbell, the Lambert

family, Joe Donley, Clifford Nutall, Waldo Waley and Forest Leach were some of the residents

that were influential in the founding of the Hope and Jackson Fire Company, which held its first

meeting on December 13, 1924; and

     WHEREAS, Otis B. Luther, a janitor and school bus driver for the Hope School, was

chosen to be the first Chief and, with help from others, took a leadership role in establishing the

Company. The Company received its first apparatus in 1924, which included hand carts and a

hand tub. In 1925, the Company purchased land on Main Street and the school annex building

located on the property was converted into a firehouse. It was from this location that members of

the fire company would respond to a fire; and

     WHEREAS, On June 7, 1929, the fire company voted to appropriate twenty dollars to

have chowder on July 4th. The idea was to hold a family outing around the 4th of July every year

on Doctor’s Lane. As time passed, these outings became public events and currently, on every

July 3rd, an outing is held at the firehouse with clam cakes and chowder being served, and

fireworks being displayed; and

     WHEREAS, The Hope-Jackson Fire Company currently has approximately 110

volunteers. They serve a rural town of about 12,600 people and respond to an average of 1,750

fire and emergency calls. For the last ninety years, the Hope-Jackson Fire Department has been a

vital resource to the citizens of Scituate, saving countless lives, homes, businesses and personal

property; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby celebrates the 90th Anniversary of the founding of the Hope-Jackson Fire Company; and

be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Hope-Jackson Fire Company Chief, Donald S.

Campbell.

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LC005830

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