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Westport celebrates opening of Station No. 1!

Eight to the Bar rocks the WLCT’s sixth Annual Barn Dance.

Westport celebrates opening of Station No. 1!EverythingWestport.comFriday, July 30, 2010

View photo album of the Grand Opening and Dedication. 58 photos | Broadband/DSL speed |View photo album of the fire stations construction from ground-breaking to dedication. 309 photos | Broadband/DSL speed |

Pride shone in every badge, every smile and every word as the official opening of Westport’s Station No. 1 got under way July 30, 2010 at 54 Hixbridge Road.

It was a pride not unlike that of a family surrounding a new born. To be sure there will be a few future bumps in the road; budget cuts and grumbling over higher taxes. But that’s contrition for another day. For this was a day of celebration, a day of civic pride, a day for the community to gather as one and celebrate the genesis of Station No. 1.

Today is also the end of an era. Westport’s first firehouse is now relegated to the dustbin of history, shuttered for all time. The glories of its past will fade; its memory to remain in the archives of those who care about such things.

“When the trucks pulled out of the old Central Village station for the last time, it was a bittersweet moment,” said Fire Chief Brian Legendre.

Left: Albert Lees and the Westport Fire Department’s Honor Guard present and raise the Holiday Flag.

But the path to this day has not been an easy one. Since 1998 Westport voters consistently rejected the concept and expense of a town safety complex, balking at a $15+ million price tag, picking thrift over perceived opulence. The 1928 Central Village fire house was built at no cost to the town.

Today, Members of the Fire Station Building Committee thanked Legendre and Deputy Chief Allen “Sam” Manley Jr. for dedicating themselves to seeing the project through to completion. They were “a remarkable GPS system that never failed us,” committee co-chair Elizabeth Collins said.

“Before the first fire house in 1928, Westporters used the bucket brigade’” recalled now deceased Calvin “Cal” Hopkinson. “But then a bunch of Westport volunteer firefighters put up a fire station in Central Village on a lot that old Charlie Wood leased to the town for as long as the land was used for fire prevention purposes,” Hopkinson had said.

Former selectman and longtime farmer Charlie Costa is a 62-year member of the Volunteer Firemen’s Association that erected that first fire house in 1928.

Left: Fire Chief Brian Legendre with Charlie Costa. Right: Reverend Lenard P. Hindsley blessing the fire station.

“I remember when we were pulled out of class in our senior year to fight fires,” Costa said. “Myself, Grouse (Calvin Hopkinson), Norman Roylance and Cukie Macomber. We would be running down the street to jump up on the new Maxim fire engine as it headed out.”

Cukie Macomber was the only one of the four who became a permanent firefighter.

“It was by special vote of the Selectmen,” Macomber recalled. “I wasn’t old enough to drive the trucks, so they had to give me special permission.”

Left: Artifacts storage room. Center: Exercise and fitness room. Right: Chief Brian Legendre’s office.

Macomber remembers those days well. “If the truck was headed south we would jump into my car and go after it,” he said. “If it was going north we would wait at the school and jump up on the back of the truck as it was going by.”

“Do you know what has changed the most in firefighting since those days,” Macomber asked? “There are no more loose hay barns in Westport! It was next to impossible to put out burning hay. The water just wouldn’t penetrate to the bottom where the shouldering fire was. We would have to pitch hay out the doors to try and save the barn. It was hard work and there were no second shifts to help out the few volunteer firefighters we had in those days. You chocked and coughed and got sick, but you continued.

Those days of volunteerism and Yankee thrift are now just a bit of nostalgia, as Westport dedicated the largest public works project in its history, the new South End Fire Station No. 1.

Keith Nickelson, the president of the firefighters’ union, said he remembered visiting the station to see his firefighter dad, Ken, when he was young. Nickerson now has his own son with whom he creates new memories.

Paul Schmid, a selectman and member of the Fire Station Building Committee, told the crowd gathered in the apparatus bay that the original proposal for “the first year would cost homeowners around $95. Because the project came in over a million dollars below budget and financing rates have dropped dramatically, that first year cost will now be around $61 dollars per property owner,” Schmid said.

“There will be a modest decline in that number over the 20 years of the bond issue,” Schmid added. Welcome news for some sticker-shocked Westport residents.

Officials also acknowledged Carlton Lees, the first chairman of the committee. Lees died in 2007, but his name was added to the plaque at the station. “To us, he is still a member of this committee,” Legendre said.

“This project went as smoothly as any I can remember,” said Michael Josefek of the Architectural Consulting Group who with the architects oversaw the design and construction.

The end of an era.But with the completion of the new fire house comes the end of an era when firemen’s associations built their own fire stations and equipped them with town-owned equipment. Closed is the Reed Road fire station, and closed is the Route 6 single-door fire station that experienced its own controversy so many decades ago.

Read about the early history of the Westport Fire Department.

“I’m glad this project is finished,” said Fire Chief Brian Legendre. “It’s been a long road.”

The project came off the back burner when Westport voters approved the funding in a special town meeting on June 18, 2008.

Read about the article with photos about the special election authorizing the funding of Station No. 1.

Left: Located to the left of the apparatus bay is a newly planted American Elm tree. The Liberty Elm is a gift to the Westport Fire Department from the Elm Research Institute of Keene, New Hampshire, who has developed an American variety of Elm

that is resistant to the dreaded Dutch Elm disease which virtually eliminated the native Elms between 1935 to 1963. – Westport Fire Department’s July 30, 2010 Program. Center: The original bell from the 1933 custom-built Mack tanker truck was silver-plated and now displayed beautifully in the foyer. Right: Barr General Contractor’s President Robert J. Darigan

receives special recognition for a job well done.

Eight to the Bar rocks the WLCT’s sixth Annual Barn Dance.EverythingWestport.comSaturday, July 31, 2010

Drawing its musical influences from American roots music - rhythm & blues, soul, Motown, boogie woogie and swing - Eight to the Bar is known for its outstanding instrumentalists and sophisticated musical and vocal arrangements, highlighted by female vocalists.

The Connecticut-based group brought them all to the Land Trust’s barn dance Saturday night, and there wasn’t an empty spot on the dance floor!

“The most important aspect of this year's Barn Dance for me was the amazing level of participation from volunteers,” said the Westport Land Conservation Trusts’ Executive Director, Peggy Stevens. “We had over 100 volunteers helping us with some aspect of creating and sponsoring this year's Barn Dance - everything from cooking the chicken, to parking cars, to striking the set the morning after the event. It was a really fun event and we are already talking about July 30, 2011 - the Seventh Annual Barn Dance and Land Trust Friend Raiser,” Stevens said.

This outdoor fundraiser is rapidly becoming one of Westport’s best entertainment values, and a heck of a lot of fun to boot!

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