Friendship or Assistance?

 

        In 1758, while struggling to build the town of Lititz, town regulations were read publicly for the first time. The regulations covered everything pertaining to community and personal life. Homes were being built, families begun, and commerce established. One particular subject had been forgotten though, so in 1765 the new Fire Safety bulletin was posted.  Brothers Grosh and Thomas were appointed fire inspectors. Fire protection became a priority in the new community and specific directions were given and insisted upon in the building of houses and shops.  The placement of bake ovens and fireplaces was specified in detail. Proper procedures for sweeping and burning out chimneys were noted. Live coals had to be carried in a covered pot when taken from house to house. The smoking of ‘segars’ in the street was not tolerated. 

      Twenty some years later it was decided that the town should invest in a pumping engine to further support fire suppression endeavors. The order for parts for the pumper was placed in September 1791, from John Grossman in Neuweid, Germany. Metal parts were made by “Brother Schmuz.” Shipping, being the problem of the day, hindered arrival of these parts until February 1793 when notice came from the docks in Philadelphia. These items were then sent to Lititz.

      Peter Getz of Lancaster manufactured the wooden parts needed to complete the project and made final assembly. By this time a year had passed. (Patience, patience, please.) The assembled fire engine was brought to Lititz where it was immediately determined to be too heavy. Keep in mind, this apparatus was pulled by manpower. Martin Shreiner was consigned to rebuild the thing, and it finally went into service in 1795.

      This particular time in history required some decorative detail to equipment such as a fire engine. There was yellow and red pin striping added to the wheels and body of the engine which was a basic dark green. H. William Hall was an artist and teacher at the John Beck School. He was only 14 years old when the engine with the plaque “Friendship” first came to Lititz.  Some years later, Mr. Hall was conscripted to add proper decoration to the pumper in the form of a detailed painting. It is unknown whether he was allowed artistic license or a specified scene was proposed. Nevertheless, the scene depicts Socrates defending Alcibiades, denoting true friendship. (This happened in the Battle of Potidaea in 432 B.C. Socrates saved his life.)? Billy Hall is to be applauded for his very learned choice and for provoking hours of research on the life of Alcibiades. The painting by William Hall is beautifully framed in ornate gold leaf, or its near substitute, and signed “W. Hall.” 

      As was mentioned earlier, this fire engine was named “Friendship,” but later became known as “Assistance.” The mystery ensues when the Moravians purchased^* another engine (second hand) from the Assistance Fire Company in Philadelphia. When it arrived it was called the “Assistance” after its first owners.  Therein begins the confusion over the names of the Lititz engines – “Friendship” is called “Assistance,” and “Assistance” is called “Friendship.”

      Abraham Beck explains the mystery in a letter to the editor of the Lititz Record in 1919. He reports the confusion relates to the names on the firehouses where the equipment was kept. “Friendship,” the older engine was housed near Church Square in a building named Assistance, and the second engine called “Assistance” was housed at the site of today’s Susquehanna Bank (now Truist Bank) in a building called Friendship. The engines came to be known by the name over its door!

^*David Tannenberg had seen the second engine for sale when working on an organ in Philadelphia. While owned by the Assistance Fire Company, it was factory built by Merrick & Agnew Company in Philadelphia. Today it can be seen on display in the Lititz Mutual Insurance building at Main and Broad Streets.

 by Richard E. Martin, CSJ, Fall 2010