This is the eighteenth in a series on Brandon’s historic buildings. The first seventeen appeared in The Brandon Reporter.

When it was built in 1888, in the shadow of the much larger Town Hall (built in 1861), the new firehouse was thought to be a “handsome building” in “a more modern style of architecture than usual for Brandon’s public buildings.”

In fact, as outlined in the National Historic Register, the firehouse was built in the newer “Queen Anne” style and the Town Hall in the classic “Greek Revival” style, looking like a Greek temple with its eight massive columns. The unique Queen Anne features of the building included the tower, a round window, decorative brickwork, gable screen, tar-dripped brick accents and bargeboard in the peaks.

In the 1880s, everyone in town, including the town fathers, knew they needed a new “hose house” for their volunteer fire department, formed sometime after 1856. The hose house at that time was located across Center Street from Town Hall (in what is now Green Park), a one-story brick building measuring 18 by 31 feet with a tin roof. But it was “insufficient in size, without suitable means for drying hose, and with walls in poor condition.”

The townspeople debated fiercely where to build the new one. Finally, a special town meeting was called on May 19, 1888, and at the sparsely attended meeting, participants voted 67 to 9 to deed the fire district “a location for the hose house adjoining the town hall.” Not everyone was happy with tucking it into that small triangular lot, especially those living on Seminary Street. Many also felt the sharp turn onto Center Street would cause problems.

However, the district officers went ahead, designing a “brick building, 25 by 35 feet, two stories high, and corresponding in style to the town hall. The second story would be used for storage, and for meetings of the hose company." The dimensions ended up at 28 by 34 feet.

Built in Record Time

Not having to get permits and with the town’s blessing, ground was broken on Monday, Sept. 3, under the supervision of three district officers. One of them, James Knapp, was a contractor and carpenter, and he would do the framing and interior work.

The foundation was up in four days and, by the end of September, Roscoe Sanders, the master mason, had “laid to the window sills of the first story.”

Roscoe Saunders

38 year-old Roscoe Charles Sanders was already a very talented and experienced mason, having worked on many houses and commercial buildings in town. At that time, his most recent downtown project had been the new brick office of F. E. Briggs, at what is now 31 Center Street (which later became LaDuke’s restaurant and was most recently Sweet Sappy’s). His skill can still be seen on the side of this building, where he designed an arch of bricks to strengthen the north wall.

Sanders would go on to do the brickwork on the new Brandon Inn in 1891-92 after the Brandon House burned to the ground. His handiwork can also be found just across the street from the hose house, where he built the foundation of the new Gipson Lumber building in 1906 (later this was Brandon Lumber and is now owned by Bob Read, who rents the front to Sister Wicked). Also, Sanders did the masonry work on Albert G. Farr’s new mansion at 53 Park Street (now the Lilac Inn), the brickwork on the huge Smith Block, and built the Bird Cage house on Conant Square (now off Wheeler Road), among many other buildings.

Not surprisingly, it took fewer bricks from the brickyard on Carver Street to build the hose house — approximately 50,000 versus 250,000 for the Town Hall and 800,000 for the Smith Block.

The new firehouse was completed just before Christmas at a total cost of around $2,600 plus furnishings of $622 and, just after New Year’s Day, 1889, the Brandon Union paper reported that “the hose cart and appurtenances have been moved into the new hose house. The boys are delighted with their new home.”

The “hose cart” was an 1872 hand pumper and “the boys” were the newly formed Volunteer Hose Company No. 1, which was soon replaced by the Dunmore Hose Company in 1894.

The building was electrified by Jan. 18, and a bank wall was constructed next to the sidewalk. The paper said, “Our fire apparatus and laddies now certainly have fine and convenient quarters in a building we may be proud of — though the residents of Seminary Street would readily agree that another location would be better.”

110 Years at the Hose House

“The newly reconstituted Dunmore Hose Company quickly earned a reputation as Brandon’s most capable and organized fire force to date.” The department became a paid-per-call organization in 1897, and the word “Volunteer” was removed from the sign on the building. The new sign then read “Dunmore Hose.”

Regular meetings were held in the house, and the fire district met there for their annual meeting on the second Monday in January. The district was funded by water system fees charged to businesses and residents who accessed water from hydrants scattered throughout the central village (initially 37, rising to 61 in 1961). The town gave them only $150 a year up until the 1960s.

Weekly drills and practice sessions were held at the building. According to the Dunmore Hose history: “The Foreman and Captain would often sound a surprise alarm to test how quickly their men could assemble at the station and race their hose cart through town.”

The first “fire engines” were actually hand pumpers that needed 15 to 20 men to pump water into one end of the apparatus then out a hose directed at the fire. Without the "fire engines", or pumpers, they had to rely on hydrants and a lot of hose. The second pumper was a gift of John A. Conant.

Per “History of Brandon,” the equipment at this time “consisted of 650 feet of good leather hose, 500 feet of new linen hose and two old hand engines”. In 1904, they finally got a LaFrance double-cylindered chemical engine. In 1917, the first modern fire truck was purchased for $800 including hook and ladders.

By 1920, the building had the following equipment squeezed into it: one auto chemical and hose truck, one 35-gallon truck with 500 feet of hose, one hose cart with 900 feet of hose, one hose reel with 500 feet of hose, one chemical engine truck with two 35-gallon tanks and one hook-and-ladder truck. There were 40 volunteers.

Since 1875, the town had had a gravity water system from Hitchcock’s Pond and a newer connection to two other reservoirs north and east of town, with a combined capacity of approximately 520,000 gallons. There were 14 miles of water pipe and 40 double hydrants. They added 4 miles of piping from Fern Lake in 1893.

Downtown fires

Soon after the hose house was built, the Dunmore Hose was tested in two major fires downtown — the huge 1889 fire that destroyed the Simmonds Block only a few hundred feet away and the 1890 fire that burned the Brandon House (predecessor to the Brandon Inn) to the ground. Bigger fire engines from Rutland had to be called in by train to help contain both infernos. In the next 30 years, fires continued to destroy buildings in downtown, in 1906, 1918 and 1919, despite the valiant efforts of the Dunmore Hose men.

Firehouse used for other events

Most town events were still held in Town Hall, but the hose house was also periodically called into this use over its first 82 years. One of the earliest events held there was the Horticultural Fair in 1896, which was part of the annual Brandon Fair.

According to the Brandon Union, the hose house was transformed “into a veritable fairyland. The windows and shelves above and below were prettily trimmed with evergreens and asparagus. The lower floor was taken up with the vegetable display and the upper floor with fruits and flowers.” The displays included pumpkins, squashes, all manner of other vegetables, honey, peanuts, butter, maple syrup, apples, grapes and “a gorgeous display of flowers and potted plants.”

In the early 1900s, Rutland County used the building for its annual teachers’ examinations, and in the 1960s, Dr. Philipsen used it for a dog clinic.

Horses in the Basement?

There have been rumors that horses were stored in the basement of the hose house over the years. Former Chief Bob Kilpeck says he saw a photo of a ramp between Town Hall and the house where the horses were led down and back up, though this writer hasn’t yet located that photo.

The hose carts were also sometimes dragged behind teams of townspeople. One delivery driver, Wilbur Sisco, also a Dunmore Hoseman, did this at least three times, as found in news clippings. A 1901 account of a house fire on Rossiter Street stated, “Wilbur Sisco with his truck team responded in the same quick time, and attaching to the hose cart and loading on the firemen, he went to the fire with his horses under the whip.”

Fire Chiefs

The first fire chief after the hose house was built, elected by the Dunmore Hose members in 1889, was Henry M. Gipson, the lumber merchant. His title was actually “Chief Engineer,” and he was assisted by a first and second engineer. These three men directed the members at each fire.

Over the years, there were many chiefs, the longest tenured being Don Trombly from 1954 to 1977 and Bob Kilpeck from 1989 to 2011. Membership fluctuated from the 30s to over 70. Bob’s son Tom Kilpeck is the current chief, having served since 2020.

Enlarging the Firehouse

As fire engines increased in size, it became difficult and eventually impossible to fit them in the station bay. In 1946, the district voted to buy a new Buffalo combination pumper and ladder fire truck for $12,000 and to spend $5,500 to enlarge the fire station so it could be housed.

When the new truck arrived in March 1947, the work had not been completed, so the truck was stored at the American Legion barn on Union Street. The district had stalled on spending the $5,500 and had formed a committee “to investigate the possibility of leasing or selling the present hose house to the town for a town clerk’s office, vault and possible offices, and to investigate sites where a larger fire station may be erected, if a central location can be found.” The committee of five included town benefactor Shirley Farr and Dr. Bill Philipsen, the town veterinarian.

The committee found no suitable site, and the station was enlarged by taking down the rear wall and expanding it backward 20 feet, but only on the ground level.

Looking for a new location

It would take another 50 years to find another location and build a larger firehouse, not for lack of trying. In 1998, at the opening ceremony for the new station, district board member Dudley Berry “recalled that efforts to build a new firehouse had begun right after World War II and said those efforts had continued under former chiefs Donald Trombly in the 1960s and ‘70s, and Murray Knapp in the 1980s. And then came the 1990s, and Chief Robert Kilpeck.”

Cute, quaint and obsolete

The old hose house had gallantly served the town for 110 years, from 1888 to 1998. Finally, Chief Kilpeck and others spearheaded the October 1997 approval for a new, much larger 3-bay firehouse on 2 acres at 61 Franklin Street. The old building was “completely inadequate, a closet with four fire trucks squashed inside it.” Or, as Ed Barna, the veteran Rutland Herald reporter, put it, “The Dunmore Hose Company’s 1888 Queen Anne firehouse is cute, quaint and obsolete.”

In 1998, the firemen, trucks and equipment moved to the new station, leaving the old building for use by the town’s water department, with its one truck, and for town storage. The water department would be there until early 2007.

Weathervane

When the hose house was built in 1888 or soon after, the men had installed a custom iron weathervane with an engine drawn by horses. In 1998, that weathervane was removed and put in storage at the new station. Phil Marks, a long-time Brandonite who lives just up the hill, was there the day it was removed by a ladder truck, and he took the photo accompanying this article.

Heritage Family Credit Union

In August 2007, the firehouse went on the auction block and it was quickly purchased by the Heritage Family Credit Union (HFCU) for $150,104. It became the credit union’s 10th branch, already seeded with 400 Brandon customers and with a goal to grow to at least 1,500. The credit union’s existing nine branches had 23,000 customers.

They hired an architectural firm to “bring new life to the building.” The interior was “made over into a state-of-the-art financial services facility by the end of March.” The wide door to the fire bay was narrowed back to about the size of the original opening, with a rounded top.

The HFCU remained there for 18 years before moving the branch about a mile south of Brandon to 1340 Franklin Street, where it remains today.

Red Clover Ale

On Feb. 5, 2025, the HFCU sold the property to the Red Clover Ale Company and moved out.

Red Clover Ale was already located only steps away in the historic Conant Building at 43 Center Street, next to the town offices. It had been renting there since Nov. 18, 2018.

Over the 15 months since Red Clover bought the building, the old firehouse has been under renovation, including an electrical upgrade, the addition of another egress, façade repairs, replumbing for the vats, and interior painting. The intention has been to move both the brewery and taproom storefront into the building.

Brew Brothers-in-law

The three owners of Red Clover — Riker Wikoff, Pete Brooks and Andy Gates — are related by marriage, as Pete explains on their web site:

“I think this may be easiest to do from my point of view. Andy is married to my oldest sister Stephanie. I am married to Riker’s older sister Abi. We are like a brother-in-law chain and I am the middle link. If we continue with this chain metaphor, it takes all three links to hold up this brewery and make it go. We all bring different and important skills and experience to the table. Our taproom and branding are inspired by our family’s farming history. Riker and I managed a dairy farm for five years, and that is where this brewery idea was hatched. Growing up and working on my family’s 6th generation family dairy farm taught me the value of hard work. It also taught me that a good cold beer at the end of a day of hard work is one of the best things in this world. I love that in both farming and brewing beer; you get out what you put in. You can see (and taste) your progress and you can’t take any shortcuts if you want to be successful. It’s stressful and satisfying and complicated and wonderful all at the same time. Just how life should be.”

Since it came to town in 2018, Red Clover has become an increasingly popular hangout. It features eclectic bands and musical groups, poetry open mics and trivia nights. It has become an integral part of the downtown business community, often sponsoring beer gardens at Green Park across the street or elsewhere.

On Facebook, it has 3,200 followers. When the owners announced, “We bought a building!” the post received 744 likes and 162 congratulatory comments.

Andy Gates explains why they bought the building:

“When the Firehouse became available, we could not let the opportunity of owning a beautiful, historic, downtown building pass us by.  It's an iconic building and we thought owning it would help to solidify our loyalty and commitment to this community while also moving us into the next phase of our business.

“Our current taproom has always had this energy and vibrancy that we did not want to lose in the move. The new first floor is an attempt to maintain that.  Our second floor will be a more casual lounge space.  Comfort with a touch more intimacy, available for small gatherings such as birthday parties, meet and greets, etc.”

Andy says they are “hoping to open the space before the 4th of July if everything falls into place.”

When they open to their enthusiastic clientele, there also may be a beer or ale that serves as an homage to their historic 138-year-old landmark. How about a Firehouse Brew? Or an 1888 Ale? Maybe a Dunmore Hose Stout?

Note: Thanks especially to Claire Pate and Kyle Hutchins for their invaluable assistance on this article.