Town Topics
17 February, 1988

Volunteer Fire Companies Plan Bicentennial Gala

On February 11, 1988 —exactly 200 years after the founding of Princeton’s first fire company — the town’s volunteer firefighters held a reception to kick off plans for the Department’s Bicentennial Celebration, planned for Saturday, May 14.

The day will feature what the 200th Celebration Committee of Princeton Hook and Ladder is calling “the brightest, grandest parade this town has ever experienced.”

Led by two grand marshalls, the parade is expected to include more than 120 fire companies and first aid squads, marching bands, civic groups, and antique car clubs.

Participants will gather at University Place and Nassau Street at 11:30 aim. and proceed up Nassau to Harrison Street. There they will turn left, past Princeton Hook and Ladder — where the reviewing stands will be set up — and proceed to Grover Park, behind the Princeton Shopping Center. At the park, a number of area eating establishments will prepare “A Taste of Princeton” for the approximately 20,000 persons expected at the celebration.

A bandstand will be net up on one end of the park, and the event will conclude with evening fireworks.

Proceeds will be used to restore the Hook and Ladder and Engine Company No. 1 firehouses; help contribute to the cost of the new firehouse to be built in the Witherspoon Street/Valley Read vicinity; and contribute to a scholarship fund under the auspices of Engine Company No. 3.