Uncovering Historic Lockport’s Mill Race Article 7 – “The Flow of New Ideas”

The “Stop Law of 1842” did more than just slow the progress of industry in Lockport, it also created great concerns over the possibilities of fire. The Erie Canal had provided all the water that Lockport could ever need, but the shut down every winter made everyone with a gas lantern, a bit nervous. All along the stretch of the Erie Canal, Cities and villages had to endure the same issues, and a return to normalcy was highly anticipated.

The canal enlargement project was taking much longer than expected, and just a few years of planned inconvenience turned into another 15 years. During that time, from 1842 through 1857, our local Fire Departments were on a constant watch for fire.

Prior to the incorporation of the village of Lockport, on March 16, 1829, fire protection was only provided by a single rotary engine, purchased by Lyman A. Spalding for his mill. That one engine covered a lot of ground, but most development was still very close to Spalding’s Mill. As the village grew, an organized fire department became absolutely necessary. At the second meeting of the trustees of the new village, a team of 16 firemen and 16 hook and ladder men took over the Spalding engine, named it the Tuscarora, and named their new fire company the Tuscarora Engine Company No. 1.

In 1833, another company was organized with 35 charter members, called the Protection Hook and Ladder No. 1, and their fire headquarters were located within the business district, on Locust Street near Main.

By 1836, “Lowertown” had grown enough to warrant its own fire department, and they called it Tuscarora No. 2. In 1853, Tuscarora No. 2 was reorganized and renamed DeWitt Clinton Engine Company. Their firehouse was located on Market Street, and they were soon to be equipped with an engine bought from the World’s Fair being held in New York City. As Lockport grew, two other fire companies came into existence, Osceola Engine Company and Rescue Engine Company No. 3.

All of these fire companies relied heavily upon early warning and tireless dedication.

Adjustments needed to be made during the winter months, and to make sure that water was always available, the firemen utilized a reservoir, constructed on Main Street in front of the Central Block, near Main and Locust Streets. Water was pumped from the canal during the summer months, into the reservoir by means of the rotary pump at Spalding’s Mill. The reservoirs actually helped out in many ways, but the entire system was far from adequate. Fires were frequent and losses were heavy, including the devastation Lockport remembers from the “Great Fire of 1854.”

On November 2, 1854, a fire started in a building a short distance from where the Niagara Hotel now stands. Canal waters were again unavailable, and the fire spread rapidly towards the corner of Richmond and Niagara Street, destroying 18 Stores, three Hotels, two churches and a number of other buildings. Somehow, a better system for preventing fires needed to be developed.

By the spring of 1859, the enlargement project was complete, and the entire length of the canal could enjoy the availability of water year round. The water was flowing even harder now, and all attention was focused on harnessing that increased volume of power for as many uses as they could find. Excitement grew. The area was gaining significant interest from entrepreneurs located all across our nation. One of the most notable was a young, creative machinist, by the name of Birdsill Holly.

Holly was the son of a mechanic, and grew up tinkering with all kinds of mechanical things. His father died young at the age of 37. Consequently, Birdsill dropped out of school and became an apprentice for a cabinetmaker and eventually used some of his past experiences to become a machinist. He quickly blossomed into an avid inventor, and became a partner at Silsby, Race and Holly, in Seneca Falls, NY, where he would invent the Silsby Steam Fire Engine, in 1856.

In 1859, two former politicians, ex-Governor Washington Hunt and ex-Congressman T.T. Flagler, induced Birdsill Holly to come to Lockport. They recognized his genius, and invited him to take charge of their machine works in Lockport, in a building located on Market Street near Exchange. The Holly Company was organized on May 2, 1859, with T. T. Flagler elected President, and the company began to manufacture sewing machines, pumps and hydraulic machinery. As a Lockport resident, Holly saw an ever-increasing need for better fire protection. His previous invention was certainly an improvement, but that was not nearly enough, and he began to dream about the possibilities.

More on that next time,

Dr. Scott Geise