Engine 25 was organized January 1, 1873 at 2424 Kensington Avenue. In 1877 they were moved to a new station located at 215 E. Adams Street. The company moved again in 1886 to a new firehouse at 1812 E. Adams Street. On December 1, 1899 Engine 25 moved to a new station located at 1915-17 E. Adams Street. Effective January 1, 1900 Adams Street was renamed Hagert Street. They would remain here until December 22, 1967 when they moved to their current station at Boudinot Street and Hart Lane. Their former station at 1915-17 E. Hagert Street was destroyed by a three alarm fire on March 1, 1968. (Box 264 at 1731 hours.)
The company roster consisted of the following members:
John Humphreys-foreman
Richard Warren-engineman
Henry Deal-driver
Edward McCarty-fireman
John Stewart-hoseman
William Grahams-hoseman
James Patterson-hoseman
Michal Lay-hoseman
David Farran-hoseman
John Cook-hoseman
Charles Wolf-hoseman
Robert Burns-hoseman
In the early part of the twentieth century, the insurance underwriters used to conduct tests to see how quickly companies could hike out to a box alarm. Engine 25 consistently had the quickest turn-out time earning them a blue ribbon. They thusly became known at the “Blue Ribbon Company”.
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On September 9, 1960 around 10:30pm at the 100,000 seat Municipal Stadium(now the site of the Wells-Fargo Center), the sixth annual Hero Scholarship Thrill Show featuring police and fire units in action was winding down when a severe thunderstorm came whipping in from the west. My high school buddy and I huddled underneath the stadium until the torrential rain subsided, and then started walking north on Broad St. towards Snyder Ave., then the southern terminus of the Broad St. Subway to take the ride home. Coming red lights on and siren blaring south on Broad St. was an engine company. In the dim light of the street lights, I was able to make out the metal numbers, two, five, on its front grill. Holy moley, what was Engine 25 doing down in South Philly? It must be a big one. A few seconds later, it turned west on Moyamensing Ave.. Looking down Moyamensing, I could see a large orange glow stretching across the horizon. It must be one of the refineries. So, we trotted down Moyamensing, finally standing atop the 26th St. elevated railroad to watch the blaze. Engine 25 was responding on the 6th alarm in what turned out to be an 8-alarm fire at the Gulf Refinery started when one of those lightning bolts hit some fuel oil distillate tanks. It was not uncommon in that era for Engine 25 to respond from Kensington to opposite ends of the city for major fires.