Our History

On December 10, 1895, fourteen Clayton citizens met in the Town Hall, NW corner of W. High and Pearl Streets, to organize a fire company. From that meeting, the HOPE VOLUNTEER FIRE CO. was formed. The first secretary was George R. Chew and George Morton was elected temporary chairman. Other officers were H. R. Sparks (Chief), John Kille (First Assistant Chief) and J. Sheppard Fisler (Second Assistant Chief).

The fire company as we know it today was established under Borough Ordinance on December 4, 1903. The Company was renamed the CLAYTON VOLUNTEER FIRE CO. #1. The first fire house, constructed in 1910, was a two-story brick fire house built on West High Street, next to the Clayton Town Hall. Later in 1912, the front doors were changed to allow a wider entryway. In the 1920s, the West High Street FIREHOUSE doors had to be widened to accommodate the new fire trucks

As told to CHP by Samuel F. Silver, November 02, 1992......"It may be interesting to note that these trucks were manufactured by the Stutz Motor Co. I think it was unusual as the company was noted for its sports car, the Stutz "Bear Cat." This may have been a government war contract during World War I. They may have been manufactured originally for a friendly foreign country (Allies). This speculation came to mind because the steering wheel of both trucks is on the right side. Also note there is no windshield and they still relied on the crank to start the engine. One of these trucks was a "Pump" truck. In action, it was connected to the fire plug to increase the pressure. The second truck carried chemicals to extinguish fires and additional hose. From the tubing under the driver of the truck on the right I believe this was the chemical truck and the short hose section under the ladder of the left truck appears to be the pump. This short hose was used to connect the fire plug to the pump. These were the first FIRE TRUCKS for Clayton. I estimate they arrived about 1920."

Fire fighters featured in the photo: Chief John Busby, Harry Ewan, D. Linton Silver, Howard Crane, Harry Downs, Herman Houck, Wesley Dilks, Asst. Chief Dave Smallwood, Elmer Lovejoy, Neal Ramsey, Grant Garwood, Norman Pierce, John Lovejoy, Edson Fitch.

These fire engines put an end to the Company's use of hand and horse drawn apparatus.

The original fire house on West High Street and the next-door Borough Town Hall were demolished to accommodate a new engine room. Fund raising through carnivals and coin drops permitted the CLAYTON VOLUNTEER FIRE CO. #1 to remove the old CLAYTON Town Hall and construct a new building. Town Hall demolition started in February, 1959, with slow laborious work as the building was taken down board by board because the oak planks were pegged together. The new fire house construction began in April, 1959. In 1985, the original FIREHOUSE on West High Street was removed to accommodate the new engine room. Later, the adjoining building was enclosed to create a permanent meeting and banquet facility. Construction of a new roof over the entire building took place in 1995.

Today, the Clayton Volunteer Fire Company #1 operates out of the same building located at 107 West High Street, as a fully volunteer department that operates four pieces of apparatus and two chiefs vehicles, with 40+ members that respond to approximately 300 calls for service a year, with countless hours spent on training and preparedness.