Fire & Flu

Sea Girt firefighting in the years prior to 1918 was a call for help. At the Sea Girt Farm, where the waterworks were located, (roughly Cresecent and 5th) farmer Blakey, and before him, William Lucas would bang a hammer on an iron wheel. Homeowners would come with cowhide buckets and pass them along the line from the closest water source to the fire.

When Manasquan formed fire companies in the 1890s, they served Sea Girt. Upon hearing the clang, the Manasquan squad was to call its men with a special call for fires in Sea Girt. Two short horn toots, an intermission, then two bell rings, and another pause. While there were small fires in Sea Girt in 1891, 1900, and 1906, no fire company is mentioned in helping extinguish them.

The wheel was moved to the new Borough Hall as the community got serious about fighting fires.

The Coast Star reported that Sea Girt Fire Company #1 was established on July 17, 1918, at the home of Mr. J, B. Samuels. -The following officers were elected: President, Wm. H.Crammer; Vice-President, J.W. Morris; Secretary. Joseph Devlin, treasurer, Howard Conover, Chief, Lloyd C, Allen; Assistant Chief, J. W. Morris, Foreman: Elmo Wilson Assistant foreman; Joseph Devlin; Driver, Charles Roberts; trustees; Wm. H. Crammer, Frank Rudderow and G F. Armstrong.

Marshal Charles Roberts and J. W. Morris were elected delegates to the State Firemen's Convention. A New Water Rotary Pump and Chemical Tank were ordered. They were to be mounted on a new Ford truck. The chemical tanks were filled with a solution of bicarbonate of soda, and a glass vial of acid. When the acid container was tipped or broken, there would be over 200 psi of pressure forced from the tank to propel water at the fire. Samuels donated $1,000 of the $3,500 needed for the rig.

The membership consisted of 16 active and 3 honorary members. They had their first fire big in October 1918. Bigget’s Park, the old Wreck Pond Inn, technically in Wall Township had a fireplace catch the roof. The volunteers fought the blaze but were hampered by low water pressure. Owner, John A. Biggett who had a house in Spring Lake, and was in the tire business in Jersey City, saved his $20,000 stockpile of liquor he had bought before the implementation of Prohibition.

Both Manasquan fire companies and Spring Lake’s joined the Sea Girt Volunteers to extinguish the blaze, but the old roadhouse would have to be rebuilt. The firemen from Sea Girt were mentioned in the Long Branch Daily for their heroic efforts to save the building and contain the fire.

The Prohibition amendment passed Congress, alcohol was set to be banned. The ban started at the Beach House when its license application was denied. This would close the 43-year-old hotel two years before the full implementation of the 18th Amendment. The building was hopelessly run down, it had not been painted in years, and its operators had gotten in trouble in Toms River for serving liquor without a license.

The Judge examining the place hearing the denial appeal, J. Clarence Conover noted that it was in such a bad state that he “could not conceive a desirable summer patronage coming to such a hotel.”

Its 120 rooms had only 10 bathrooms. While standard in the 1870s, fine establishments were not sharing facilities. The beach had eroded up to the sea wall, collapsing the lawn and bathhouse.

As the World War continued, Pilots became a fascination. Stunt planes flew over the airfield at Sea Girt. Roy Wooley, a postman at Asbury Park did loop the loops over the city before dive-bombing and then perfectly landing to shake hands with Governor Edge at Sea Girt. The Red Baron, Germany’s flying ace was shot down.

Women were asked to help the war effort through the Red Cross, which significantly aided US Troops and their families. Some of the largest contributions in New Jersey came from the Shore communities. The war also hurt business at the Shore. The casualty numbers were often understated, but the stories of men being gassed or dying of trench foot infections ended an age of innocence. And then there was the Spanish Flu pandemic. It dampened enthusiasm for hotel vacations. The country club site was abandoned. In future seasons the club’s horse shows moved to a farm in Wall Township near 18th Ave, and auto racing moved to larger tracks.

Spanish Flu hampered the war effort and killed many people at home.

A new rooming house opened. It was operated by two women. The Hollywood Manor on Baltimore Blvd. was the brainchild of A. Louise Klipstein and Rebecca S. Noble.

In 1907 a homelike environment for those with chronic illness who could no longer be cared for at home was a novel idea, and Henrietta Parker founded the Parker home along the Raritan River in New Brunswick in honor of her late husband. She hired a nurse, Rebecca Noble from Virginia as superintendent. The Parker Home became the standard of care for those with means.

In 1909, A. Louise Klipstein from West Virginia came to New Jersey to train in healthcare administration. She became Rebecca’s assistant at the Parker Home. Doctors in the early part of the century began to move the long-term ill out of private homes.

Sanitoriums treated tuberculosis patients in isolation, Preventoriums took children who may have been exposed to TB, marine homes took care of veteran seamen, and small rest homes took the “worthy poor”. These were generally run by religious orders. Anyone with any type of mental affliction wound up in an asylum. Parker was a respite, and the women treated patients as they would their own families. Their Southern charm and warmth was evident in their loving nursing care.

The two women came to Sea Girt and opened The Hollywood Manor, between First and Second on Baltimore. They advertised a short walk through the cedars to the ocean. It was a chance to relax in an environment where the owners knew how to care for people.

Poems like this were a form of public service announcements for the prevention of flu.

Be keer-full

You mustn’t cough, you mustn’t sneeze.

You must keep out of draft or breeze;

You mustn't laugh, you mustn’t cry.

And you must guard both mouth and eye.

You mustn’t breathe, you mustn’t drink.

And you must always stop and think

What next to do, or not to do,

So you’ll avoid the dreaded ’’Flu.’’

Be keerful, men, both day and night.

Or else the doggone germ will bite,

You on your unprotected head.

And then they’ll cart you off to bed.

As soon as you begin to sniff.

For old friend Doctor you should shout;

The Spanish Flu’ll git you

If You Don't watch out!

The vintage ticket is in the museum case at the Firehouse Entrance

The Flu did not stop the Sea Girt Fire Company #1. They held “A 500” (Gin Rummy tournament) and a dance. The engine house was emptied and rugs placed and tables set for a New Year’s Eve contest of cards and then the furniture was moved from the second floor of Boro Hall so the revelers could dance to an orchestra. The event raised $125 for the fire company, and there was no report of the flu. Mayor Emerick won top prize of a double carving set. Mr. Voorhees of Spring Lake won a Thermos bottle, while William Lake of Sea Girt won a deck of cards Mrs. George Vunk of Asbury Park won a cut glass bowl, while Mrs. Cramner won a deck of cards.