The Lost history of the Leesburg Volunteers, 61 Plaza St, Leesburg, VA (2026)

Explore the lost history of our Volunteers and the fire service in Loudoun County, Virginia.

06/14/2026

June 1963 Gas Station Fire and Washdown

On a hot, early summer day much like the ones we had last week, the Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company responded for a small fire at the gas pumps at this Gulf service station. It was located on east Market Street where Pupatella Pizza (the old Pizza Hut building) is today, just west of Catoctin Circle. Once the fire was out, the firemen washed the remaining fuel off of the property which was accepted practice for many years.

05/25/2026

March 22,1926 – The Great Hamilton Fire
May 25, 2026 – A little over 100 years later, the Leesburg Volunteers visited Hamilton with fire trucks again, this time to help celebrate “Hamilton Day” by participating in this Memorial Day parade. The rain held off, the crowds were great and we enjoyed seeing the pride and appreciation for the Town of Hamilton and for our country's fallen heroes. Thank you again for the invitation!

Here are the details of the devastating fire that destroyed the entire business section of the Town.

Hamilton had been a busy and prosperous community at the turn of the last century. The railroad from Alexandria came to Hamilton in 1868, bringing tourists and boarders from the city. Soon after, Hamilton boasted a one- and 1/2-mile boardwalk that ran the length of the town, as well as a dance hall. By 1900, the Town of Hamilton was Loudoun County's second largest town.

On March 22, 1926, much of Hamilton’s central business district was consumed by a massive fire that destroyed eight buildings and threatened to raze the town. The fire was discovered by Mrs. Betty Myers who notified the fire departments of neighboring cities. With no water system in the town, the citizens were forced to form long lines of bucket brigades, reaching from pumps and wells to the fire. Fire apparatus from Purcellville and Leesburg (the only two incorporated fire companies in Loudoun County) responded to the calls for assistance. In addition, Washington Hose company No. 5 and the pump engine were dispatched from Washington DC. While passing through Fairfax, a spring on the Washington pump engine was broken and it had to be towed back to the city. Messages from Hamilton advised that the fire was under control and that they would not be needed. 1 The Washington apparatus returned to the station at 3210 M Street, northwest without going into action. 2

The fire originated in the Laycock Merchandise Co.’s store and spread to the Hamilton Merchandise store, E. W. Wiley Co. clothiers; Dr. Floyd Kerr’s drug store, Sanders hardware store and the homes of George W. Laycock, Dr. Kerr and Betty Myers. The blaze raged for several hours before being controlled. The cause of the fire was not determined and damage was estimated at approximately $75,000. 3

Years later, Hamilton resident Miss Ester Cowart recalled this devastating fire -
“It was early in the morning, on a Monday in March, 1926. A burglar started a fire – he dropped a match, I guess. He was trying to steal some clothing from the apparel shop evidently because fancy dress clothes were strewn all over the store.”

“The stores were very close together - there was a hardware store, a post office and a meat shop too. The Hamilton Mercantile and its shoe store were there and the drug store and the men’s haberdashery. The fire started in the apparel shop and went on for three days.”

“We ran out of water here; all the wells were pumped dry. Fire companies came from all over – Leesburg, Wi******er, Manassas, Frederick – even Washington. Everybody brought buckets of water and lined up to fight the fire.”

“I can remember how hot it was. They tried to keep the fire from spreading across the street and destroying the houses there, so they watered everything down heavily. That line of evergreen trees stopped the fire from spreading across the street. But all the houses burned to the ground, and all the businesses were displaced. No one was hurt but it was a devastation of Hamilton. We never found that burglar either.” 4

With the downtown destroyed, tourist business along with local commerce dwindled, leaving the town with little revenue which made rebuilding very difficult. It would be almost twenty more years before the population of Hamilton grew to the point where organized fire protection was needed.

1. 8 BUILDINGS DESTROYED IN HAMILTON, VA., FIRE, The Washington Post (1923-1954); Mar 23, 1926; pg. 2
2. https://legeros.com/history/dc/
3. 8 BUILDINGS DESTROYED IN HAMILTON, VA., FIRE, The Washington Post (1923-1954); Mar 23, 1926; pg. 2
4. “In Their Own Words: Recollections of an Earlier Loudoun” Sarah Huntington and Gale Waldron, Xlibris Corporation, Aug 31, 2012 - History - 76 pages

05/16/2026

A Tale of Two Stations and Some Amazing Men
The last year of our Loudoun Street SE Station and the First Year of Station 1

In September 1927, the Leesburg firemen moved out of the town hall engine room and into the new fire station which had been built next door, on Loudoun Street. One advantage of the station was its location. If a fire truck wouldn’t start, the firemen simply pushed it out, turn left onto Loudoun Street, let it roll down the hill and popped the clutch.

The Town sold the Opera House / Town Hall in 1953, then it was torn down a year later and replaced with Whites Department Store, the current building. With it went the firemen’s recreation room, meeting area and the billiards parlor where they spent a lot of time.

On April 19, 1963, the Company gained its independence and was incorporated as the Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company Inc. Howard Gill was the first Chief and former Chief, Dave McDonald, was elected as the company’s first president. Also elected as cooperation officers were Harry Jenkins, vice president; James W. Fiske Jr., secretary, Karlton Kirk, treasurer; and directors T.E. Athey, A.B. Atwell, A.B. Titus, Howard B. Gill, and Joe Grehan.

Also that year, the fire company decided that they had outgrown the old 1927 fire station. It was too small to house most new fire trucks and too close to the street for the ones they had. The newer trucks were so long that they often ran up onto the curb across the street when pulling out onto Loudoun Street. Occasionally, the firemen had to pay to replace the trash cans across the street that were run over by responding apparatus. There were also stories of drivers who scraped paint off the side of apparatus when they rubbed the station door frame.

At the May 1964, Company meeting, a motion was made by Billy Fiske, second by Hubert Welch, to build a new fire station at a cost not to exceed $60,000 – it passed. Later that year, after researching fire stations in McClean and Great Falls, the company moved into a brand-new fire house on their property near the ballfield. Today, this fire house; known as Station 1 and located at 215 west Loudoun Street, is one of the last examples of the old Fairfax fire station architecture left in Northern Virginia.

In 1998, station 20 on Plaza Street was completed and soon became our primary fire house. Station 1 still serves the company by housing additional apparatus, duty crews as needed, monthly meetings and fundraisers as well as a rental hall. It will forever be the heart and soul of Company 1!

Edited to fix the date of the opera house demo.

05/09/2026

Flashback Friday!
January 25, 2011 - L to R - Life Member Past Chief Tommy Downs, Firefighter Kris Otten, Chief Engineer Jason Downs (Tommy's son), former Fire Chief Jim Cook at a chimney fire.

LVFC Photographer Steve Kusterer photo

05/03/2026

THEY STARED DANGER IN THE FACE, OVERCAME
The First Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce Valor Awards
37 Years Ago Today, May 3, 1989

The Following was written by Cornelius F. Foote Jr. and published in the Washington Post at https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1989/05/04/they-stared-danger-in-the-face-overcame/245caf0f-b5c6-4ad1-b9c0-bbaeacddadf3/

When Thomas W. Owens, deputy chief of the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company 11, arrived at the house that March morning, he and his coworkers learned that two elderly people were trapped inside. Owens entered the burning structure, crawled down the hallway where he found an unconscious woman, and pulled her to the side porch. But he knew one other person was inside. He went back in and, struggling with the flames that scorched his ears and right arm and gasping the smoke-filled air, found the other victim and pulled her to safety.

Owens was to receive a bronze medal of valor yesterday for his heroic efforts, one of nearly 35 Loudoun County and town firefighters, rescue workers, police officers and residents to be honored by the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce at its valor awards ceremony. Because the ceremony was to be the county's first for awarding valor, the chamber planned to recognize members of the county's fire-rescue companies, the sheriff's office and town police departments who were nominated by their peers for heroic acts during previous years. Two were to be awarded gold medals. They were Robert K. McDaniel, of the Round Hill Volunteer Fire Department, who was killed in 1962 while driving to a fire when the company's truck overturned, and Frederick G. LeGrys, who in 1985 suffered a fatal heart attack while he was fighting a brush fire.

James E. Kiser, who was Sterling fire chief from 1986 to 1988, was to receive the meritorious service award for a number of achievements, including his work in lobbying county officials for sprinkler protection in Loudoun and developing a standard operating procedure for use by Sterling firefighters.

Sixteen members of the Loudoun County sheriff's office were to receive awards for several incidents, including: Sgt. (now Capt.) John V. Sealock, who was to receive a silver medal for helping to capture a suspect in 1977 after a 100-mile-an-hour car chase. Sgt. (now Lt.) Randall S. Quesenberry, Cpl. William H. Harris, Deputy Bruce L. Lecrone and Deputy Thomas J. Turner III, who were to receive bronze medals for the 1985 arrest of an intoxicated man who randomly fired shots at them as they tried to coax him out of a Round Hill house.

One of the citizens' lifesaving awards was to go to James (Buster) Simms, who on Feb. 19, 1985, rescued a driver from his car, which had run off the road and struck a large tree along Rte. 7 near Round Hill. The engine caught fire, but Simms was able to unlock the door and with the help of three bystanders pull the driver to safety.

Sterling Volunteer Fire Company Firefighter Matthew Partlow was to be awarded a bronze medal for The Chamber of Commerce planned to recognize members of the county's fire-rescue companies, the sheriff's office and town police departments. his work with firefighter Irvin L. Chilcoat, who was to receive a silver medal, in handling the May 1988 explosion at the Automata Inc. off Rte. 28. Partlow's grandfather, father and uncle worked in the Ashburn volunteer department for nearly 50 years. Partlow and Chilcoat arrived at the Automata plant after receiving a call that there was "an explosion involving a computer." But when they arrived, it turned out that it was an explosion caused by a worker who accidentally mixed sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid. Partlow helped several of the victims wash acid from their faces while Chilcoat made sure the facility was safe until other firefighters, including Fairfax County's hazardous materials unit, arrived. Partlow and Chilcoat were later scrubbed down to avoid contamination from the acid.

Other award recipients include, from the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office: Capt. John V. Sealock, bronze, 1987. Deputy David R. Simpson, silver, 1983. Sgt. Jeffrey M. Brown, bronze, 1986. Cpl. William H. Harris, bronze, 1986. Deputy Richard M. Springman, Lifesaving Medal, 1986. Investigator Milton C. Beaver, silver, 1987. Deputy Ronald Horak, Lifesaving Medal, 1987. Deputy William P. Shellhammer, bronze, 1987. Deputy First Class Devlin Clark, silver, 1988. Deputy Edward G. Pifer, bronze, 1988. Deputy Barry G. Williams, bronze, 1988. Deputy Edmond J. Leonard, bronze, 1988. Deputy Christopher C. Athey, bronze.

Sterling Volunteer Fire Co. 11 -- Duty Crew 1, Unit Citation (1988): Thomas W. Owens, deputy fire chief, Duane T. Perry, fire sergeant, Kathleen M. Allen, Jason Collins, Richard A. Mather, Mark E. Featherstone. Owens also received a bronze medal.

Sterling Volunteer Rescue Company 15 Unit Citation: Joel T. Grant, rescue captain, Robin J. Davis, James M. Grant, Russell N. Miller, Edwin N. Baun, Richard V. Laughlin, Douglas G. Rambo, Christopher L. Grube, Judy C. Krespach.

Sterling Volunteer Fire Company 11 Unit Citation for 1988: James E. Kiser, fire chief, Thomas W. Owens, deputy fire chief, Michael B. Richardson, fire captain, Irvin L. Chilcoat, Matthew M. Partlow, Roger L. Smith, Richard W. Huntley.

Aldie Volunteer Fire Department Unit Citation, 1988.

Lovettsville Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company 12: Benjamin R. Bayliff Jr., Clifford S. Free, Wanni Peters, Patrick M. Sheen, bronze, 1988.

Patricia Coogan, Maria Sancaranco, Loudoun County public schools, Lifesaving-Citizen, 1988.

John Scott Ebersole and Ronald D. Speakman, Leesburg Police Department, Lifesaving Medal, 1986.

05/02/2026

9 Years Ago Today - Trap with Extrication!

On May 2, 2017, the LVFC volunteer duty crew staffing the command, truck and engine, led by Capt. Graber and George Delalian, medic 13 with LCVRS volunteers and Rescue 13 staffed with LCFR career staff led by Lt. Dan Bush responded to this accident with entrapment. The following was posted on our archived LVFC Website by Webmaster and former Chief, Ian Buchanan -

MAY 2 2017

**Update** both patients have been successfully extricated! Great job and fast work by all crews!

Engine, Truck, Rescue, and Command on scene of a trap at Sycamore Hill Dr./ Fort Evans Rd. NE. 2 patients in a vehicle on its side. Crews are working quick to get them extricated.

Address

61 Plaza St
Leesburg, VA
20176

Website

https://leesburgfirehistory.blogspot.com/

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