The Firemen’s Monument in Oak Hill Cemetery above East Main
Street turns 100-years-old today.

The monument, which stands over the graves of 21 firefighters,
is constructed of Barre Granite with an eight-foot square base and
a pedestal 20 feet, six inches high. The statue of the fireman is
eight feet tall.

The monument was put together in four days in 1909, just prior
to the dedication on Aug. 12, 1909.

The funding for the monument came about as the result of the
decision to create a paid fire department for the city. At that
time, seven fire departments were active in the city, three
city-funded: Era Hook & Ladder Co., which was located on Pine
Street; Citizen Hose Co., which was located on Kennedy Street, and
Cornen Hose Co., which was housed in a wooden building where the
current East Bradford Fire Station currently stands.

Four other private companies existed: Johnson Hose Co., on
Whitney Place, and Central Hose Co., on Boylston Street at Davis,
both of which were disbanded; and Potter Hose Co. on the corner of
Center and Pleasant streets, and Liberty Hose Co., on High Street,
which were kept in reserve. Two companies, Whitney Hose Co. and
United Hose Co., had been deactivated prior to the decision to
create a paid fire department.

Money remained in the treasuries of those fire companies and in
the Relief Association. That money was put toward the purchase of
the monument. The funds left after the monument was purchased were
kept to be put toward the interment of firefighters.

The Hon. J.C. Greenwald, a member of the Relief Association,
announced during his speech at the dedication ceremony that with
the monument’s unveiling came the end of the city’s volunteer fire
departments and the Relief Association.

Several of the firefighters currently interred on the plot in
Oak Hill Cemetery were originally buried elsewhere. Those
firefighters were buried in Bradford Cemetery, where Hanley Park is
currently located. Due to lack of space for burials, those buried
in Bradford Cemetery were moved to other areas around 1903.

Of the 21 firefighters, one passed away on duty in his fire
station. None were killed in the line of duty.

The final firefighter laid to rest there, Harvey Mell, who died
Oct. 5, 1942, had previously not had a headstone over his grave.
Mell passed away in the county home in Smethport and was given a
proper funeral, however his grave was never marked with a
headstone.

In 2000, that oversight was rectified through the efforts of
local firefighters.

Jim Long, president of the Bradford Township Volunteer Fire
Department, explained that he originally visited the monument in
1993.

“From my standpoint, I found it to be in terrible disrepair.
Someone had vandalized it, painted stuff on it,” Long said. “That’s
what peaked my interest in it. On my own, I went up and did what I
could.”

After more than 20 hours of work, the graffiti was removed.
However, the monument was still in need of attention.

Seven years later, Long and Captain Chris Angell of the Bradford
City Fire Department organized an ad-hoc committee. The committee
raised funds and organized the professional cleaning of the
monument and headstones, as well as the purchase of a headstone for
Mell’s grave and small landscaping projects around the monument,
which the firefighters completed themselves.

“We felt that the men who are buried there were promised – and
deserve – a decent respectable resting place. That is what it is
now,” Long explained.

Long, who has been a volunteer firefighter for many years,
explained that the Oak Hill Cemetery committee have always done a
good job of caring for the monument since its placement. Therefore,
the group he gathered does “extra things” such as landscaping.

Long explained that in order to be buried in the plot near the
monument, individuals had to be part of the city’s volunteer fire
departments, according to the original agreement.

“Some people might wonder why those men chose to be buried there
and not with their families,” Long said. “They came to Bradford to
work in the oil or lumber industry. Those guys (firefighters) were
their family.”

There is still room to be buried in the plot today.