The Spencer Fire and Emergency Services came about in May of 1831 where the first reference’s in the Town of Spencer’s Annual Town meeting mentioned they purchased buckets for use for fire protection within the Town limits.

The following is from the book of Jeffrey Fiske, “History of Spencer, Massachusetts 1875-1975” with some clarifications and corrections as the best of my knowledge.

Firehouses

The earliest reference to an engine house is the one for the hand tub presently owned by the town. (This hand tub is not owned by the town at this time; the Union 2 hand tub is presently owned by the town and is in workable condition.) This was built in the early 1830’s by Cephas Muzzy and was said to be across the street from the Union Block on the west corner of Maple and Main Streets, which would put the engine house near the driveway of the old brick fire station. (This location was an old barn at the location of the present day Cumberland Farms parking lot.)

There is a reference in 1901 to the old hand tub engine house being a tenement at the Thomas Martin Estate on Maple Street, next to A.E. Kingleys. The Martin estate was on the northeast corner of Maple and Cherry Streets, and Kingleys building was immediately to the north. It was apparently moved to this location when a new engine house was built. (This is 19 Maple Street where an business building is today after the former residence was destroyed by fire on December 10, 2007 which required mutual aid from numerous other communities in a spectacular day time fire.)

The first engine house to be identified on a map was to the rear and just east of the Old Town Hall.  This wooden building is shown on the 1856 map of Spencer.  On Beer’s map of Spencer for 1870 the same wooden structure is shown in the same location. (There were other firehouses mentioned but locations are sketchy, reportedly to be one on Linden Street and the one mentioned later for Wire Village was located at the corner of Gold Nugget and McCormick Rd next to the old schoolhouse. Both buildings are long gone and there are no pictures of either.)

The early 1880’s saw two brick firehouses built, one in the rear of the Town Hall and one on Cherry Street. (Both buildings are still standing. The one on Main Street is currently used for town hall vehicles and Cherry Street is vacant and in disrepair.) Work began on the Main Street Engine house in the summer of 1882, and the building dedicated on Wednesday evening, February 7, 1883.  The dedication included a dance at the Town Hall, beginning in the early evening and followed by a supper at eleven.