The History of Engine Company 42
Before it's organization Engine 42 was The Lady Washington Volunteer Engine Company of the Morrisania Fire Department. The Bronx then became annexed to The City of New York in 1874 and the volunteers disbanded for the professional firefighters of the NYFD.
Engine 42 became a single engine again until 1957 when the thawing apparatus moved in for the next eleven years. From August of 1968 to August of 1981 Engine 42 and Ladder 56 were housed together on Monroe Avenue. During those thirteen years Engine 42 responded to nearly 80,000 alarms when The Bronx saw some of it's most intense fire activity, the likes of which we may never see again.
The wide array of buildings here, tenements, duplexes, taxpayers, brownstones and high-rises made diversified firefighters out of the men who served in Engine 42 so proudly. Where the quality of firefighting and company pride is still evident today 125 years later. - George Palladino Engine 42 RET.
After Ladder Company 56's departure from our quarters in 1981 Engine 42 once again became a single engine company until July of 1997. When Tower Ladder 44 called 1781 Monroe Avenue home while their quarters were being renovated. During those years in-between (1981-1997) crime and drugs ran rampant through the streets off all boro's of New York City. The Bronx was no different. Out of this Engine 42 became know as it is today "Da O.K. Corral." After Tower Ladder 44 left quarters in June of 1998 for their newly renovated quarters and back with Engine 92. Engine 42 became again what it has always been a single engine company. Made from the best stuff on Earth!
The wide array of buildings here, tenements, duplexes, taxpayers, brownstones and high-rises made diversified firefighters out of the men who served in Engine 42 so proudly. Where the quality of firefighting and company pride is still evident today 125 years later. - George Palladino Engine 42 RET.
After Ladder Company 56's departure from our quarters in 1981 Engine 42 once again became a single engine company until July of 1997. When Tower Ladder 44 called 1781 Monroe Avenue home while their quarters were being renovated. During those years in-between (1981-1997) crime and drugs ran rampant through the streets off all boro's of New York City. The Bronx was no different. Out of this Engine 42 became know as it is today "Da O.K. Corral." After Tower Ladder 44 left quarters in June of 1998 for their newly renovated quarters and back with Engine 92. Engine 42 became again what it has always been a single engine company. Made from the best stuff on Earth!
Engine 42 was organized on January 1, 1874 and originally quartered at 1192 Fulton Avenue in the Claremont section of The Bronx. The company was then moved to it's present location at 1781 Monroe Avenue on October 1, 1915. Then known as Mount Hope Road and remained as a single engine until Rescue 3 moved into quarters from 1948 to 1951.
