CAYUGA HOSE COMPANY

         The Village of Depew Board of Trustees, at the August 30, 1897 meeting, was presented with a petition signed by Henry Dobbins and twenty- four others, asking for approval and granting of the formation of a hose company to be known as Cayuga Hose Company Number Three, to be located west of Transit Road and south of the Erie Railroad. The petition was read, accepted and placed on the table.

         On December 28, 1897, a resolution, “moved by Trustee William S. Bostwick, seconded by Trustee Edward Hennesey, that the Board of Trustees hereby give their consent for the incorporation of a hose company on Broadway, Southwest Section, as per a petition presented to this board, signed by Michael Dobbins, John Zurbrick, W.S. Bostwick, John M. Witherspoon, Maloney, John H.Roll, Corrigan and others.” The resolution was unanimously approved.

         At the January 3, 1898, meeting of the Village Board, the village attorney was authorized to draw up a petition to incorporate a hose company for the southwest section of the village.

         The Certificate of Incorporation was signed on January 19, 1898. The following are the Charter Members of the Cayuga Hose Company: Henry Dobbins, Michael K. Dobbins, Herbert H.Green, Louis P. Reuther, Henry Ullman, John M. Witherspoon, Albert Zurbrick, John Zurbrick, William S. Bostwick, Franklin Zurbrick, Charles Illig, John Getzin, Martin Kieffer, John H. Roll and William H. Reuther. A Justice of Supreme Court approved the Certificate of Incorporation on March 30, 1898.

         The first regular meeting of the newly organized company was held on June 24, 1898. At this meeting, a discussion on fire equipment and an election of officers was held. Elected to office were Henry Ullman, Foreman; Henry Dobbins, Assistant Foreman. John Zurbrick and Martin Kieffer were elected as Wardens, to represent the Cayuga’s at meetings of the Depew Fire Department.