A gift of two books of historical records from more than a century ago was recently donated to the Marthasville Fire Protection District (MFPD). 

Karen (Kehr) Dawson, who once lived above the office of the The Marthasville Record (now the Warren County Record) in downtown Marthasville, found the books recently among her great-grandfather’s personal items. 

Dawson is a retired teacher from the Washington School District and now makes her home in Washington. She said many of her family were educators, including her cousin James Kehr, who happily gave Dawson permission to donate the books to the MFPD.

In 1879, a group of men decided to form the Marthasville & Farmers Fire Co. Their story is handwritten in two ledger books that have been stored for many years in a box belonging to the Kehr family.

“I’ve had this box of things and I was going through them,” Dawson said. “This is the start of something in Marthasville. I’m delighted to be able to hand them over to you.”

Board members Bob Koch and Jim Buescher were on hand to accept the donation, along with local historian Cathie Schoppenhorst. Buescher said the books could clear up a lot of loose ends regarding the history of the department.

The fire company advertised and recruited through a Fourth of July picnic held in 1879. They talked about repairing a portable dance floor and recruiting the local Cornet Band to be members of the company.

In 1880, the fire company reported a total of 15 members, all paying $1 for their annual membership fee. Each page is a record of meetings, roll calls and any financial transactions that occurred. Some of the names on the membership roll include recognizable local families, such as the Rottmanns, Bergs, Kochs and Mittlers.

The books included information about first purchases, such as a pump and a 10-foot hose. Entries were also seen regarding hiring a local blacksmith and wagon makers to fashion a fire wagon for the organization.

“We want to keep the books as part of our history,” said Koch. “We want to further analyze them to understand the written fire history.”

Schoppenhorst said it’s always fascinating to see the development of organizations over time. She said before the turn of the century the fire company was “probably just town residents and outlying farmers.” From a previous study, Schoppenhorst believes it’s possible there were a few years when a fire department was not active in the Marthasville area.

It will take additional time to transcribe the books into digital form, but interesting tidbits were gleaned just by looking over the books for a short time.

The last entry was made in July 1923, when it was thought the fire department was taken over by the city of Marthasville. Koch and Buescher said current written history of the MFPD begins in 1928. Their goal is to fill in the blanks and get a better idea of the beginnings of the department.

Dawson said she has not finished her project of rooting through family treasures and hopes to find more fire department history in her great-grandfather’s things.

The MFPD intends to release more information on its Facebook page as the books are transcribed.