Millville Fire Company. The records of this company were lost in the great flood of 1889, but it was about the year 1869 that the company was organized as a duly-chartered institution of the borough of Millville. The borough council furnished the equipments, consisting of a hose carriage and hose. The membership of the company has varied from twenty-five to forty. After the great flood of 1889 it became necessary to reorganize the company, as a great many of its members had gone away and all its property was lost in the flood. The new company obtained a second-class Amoskeag fire engine, hose carriage and hose, and every equipment necessary to render good service. The company owns a large brick engine house in which it keeps its apparatus.
The Vigilant Fire Company was organized in 1877. The first meetings of the company were held at the residence of G. Seibert. A second-hand steam fire engine (known as the "Eagle" engine) was purchased from Pittsburg at a cost of $1,000. A Lawrence hose carriage was also purchased from the same city. The money was raised by subscription among the citizens of the Fifth and Sixth wards of Johnstown borough (known as Kernville). The engine was first kept in a smith shop of located on Haynes street; afterward in the Good Will Hose, Hook & Ladder Company's building on Vine street, and from there it was again moved to the smith shop of George Decker, and kept there until the completion of their engine house on Morris (now Franklin) street, on ground leased from John Litz. The building was erected in 1880. This was the company's permanent home until the angry waters of May 31, 1889, destroyed the building, engine, and all records of the company. The hose carriage was taken from the debris and repaired, and is now very highly prized, as it is the only piece of fire apparatus saved from the flood.
The company was incorporated on the 12th day of December, 1881, with the following officers: James D. Kelvie, president; Benjamin F. Horner, vice-president; Will R. Ramsey, secretary; Benjamin F. Horner, treasurer; W. Stonebraker, Emanual Young, Hiram Shank and Jacob Trefts, directors.
After the flood of May 31, 1889, work on a temporary structure on the school property on Dibert street was immediately begun, to keep the boys together and provide a meeting place. A Silsby steam fire engine, a hose carriage and one thousand feet of rubber hose were donated to the company by the flood
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