Records of the Friendship Fire Company of Wilmington, Delaware

The Friendship Fire Company of Wilmington, Delaware, the first volunteer fire department in the city’s history, was founded in December of 1775 by a group of prominent citizens who were frustrated with the lack of fire protection in their region. The sixty-three original members agreed to respond to local conflagrations, bringing with them two leather pails for the bucket brigade. The Revolutionary War quickly disrupted the early organizational efforts of the Company, but after the War’s end the members were determined to strengthen their “languid state” (Minutes, 23 Sep 1784). In September of 1784, the organization resolved to recruit more members, and the following month the Company began holding public meetings at the Town Hall building. The Friendship Fire Company remained the only fire company in Wilmington until 1796, when the Reliance Fire Company was organized. During the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, the Friendship Fire Company continued to grow. It acquired more sophisticated equipment, including a small hand engine in 1790 to supplement the two supplied by the Borough of Wilmington. The organization was headquartered at several different engine houses during its early years, the first one located on Fifth Street, between Shipley and Orange Streets. The Friendship Fire Company was incorporated in 1805, and continued to serve the community, along with a number of other volunteer fire companies, until the founding of the professional Wilmington Fire Department in 1921.

Conrad, Henry C. History of the State of Delaware. Wilmington, Del.: Published by the author, 1908. Volume 1, pp. 328-329. Lukaszewski, Chester P. The Wilmington Volunteer Fire Department, 1775-1921. Master’s Thesis, University of Delaware, 1965. Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Delaware, 1609-1888. Philadelphia: L. J. Richards & Co., 1888. Volume 2, pp. 674-675. Snellenburg, David. “Volunteer fire companies of old Wilmington.” Unpublished paper, [1941]. Located in Special Collections, University of Delaware Library. Welde, Charles. History of the Wilmington Fire Department. Wilmington, Del.: Press of Homer Barry, 1897. Biographical AND/OR historical information derived from the collection.