PHENIX Hook & Ladder: COMPANY 1

On July 30, 1860, at a public meeting held in the District School House, which the is the building on First Street was occupied by Frank Bersenger as a carriage and auto paint shop, a meeting was held for the purpose of organizing a hook and ladder company. Henry E. Wells was appointed chairman of the meeting with Theodore A. Thompson as secretary. It was voted to form a hook and ladder company to be know as the Phenix Hook and Ladder Company No. 1.

It was on July 27, 1861 that the hook and ladder for the new company arrived. A. VanNess of New York City (a hand-drawn apparatus), at a cost of $200 and was housed in a shed on the property now owned by the Greenport Basin and Construction Company.