UPDATE: SCHS -- Photo of the Week / 7.31.23-- Riverhead Fire Department Band, 1910

Photo of the Week

——— July 31, 2023 ———

FROM THE SCHS LIBRARY ARCHIVES

“How shall we know it is us without our past?”
– John Steinbeck

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Riverhead Fire Dept. Band, 1910

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The Riverhead Fire Dept. Band was one of the outstanding bands in Suffolk County that provided music for parades and other events across the county. Here, the band is shown waiting at the Riverhead Railroad Station for the train that would take them to Sayville for the annual tournaments of the Suffolk County Volunteer Firemen’s Association.

Front Row: Clarence E. Dugan, Forrest G. Downs, Carl A. Hallett, Fred Hallett, Harry Moore, Archibald Hallett, Carl LeValley.

Back Row: George L’Hommedieu, Fred S. Hill, Hans Walty, Samuel Barber, Nathan T. Corwin (Assistant Chief), Paul Brown (child), and directly behind the child, Frank Corwin Lane (Chief for 20 years and the great-great grandfather of Riverhead Town Historian Georgette Lane Case), Lewis Young, Cornelius Mazurie (with Ed Carter directly behind), Burt L’Hommedieu, Howard Lane, Matthias N. Ammann, and John Madden. Notice also the “erased” person in the back row next to the column – identity unknown!

On September 2, 1910, the Suffolk County News reported on its front page that “the firemen and citizens set a high mark for a Firemen’s Tournament, and one which will be difficult for successors to reach. They were assisted by a record crowd, which included most of the Volunteer Firemen of Suffolk County and an attendance of nearly 15,000 people. The weather bureau helped a lot by politely reversing itself and instead of the threatened rain, furnished an absolutely perfect day for the big event.”

–by Wendy Polhemus-Annibell, Head Librarian

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