Riverhead Fire Department’s Polish Town company celebrates centennial

Riverhead Fire Department’s Eagle Hose Company is celebrating a century of tradition and Polish heritage this year.

Founded in 1915 in the heart of Polish Town, the company prides itself on its deeply entrenched roots in Riverhead’s Polish community.

“For a long time, you needed to have some Polish blood in you somewhere to belong to the Eagles,” said Riverhead Fire Department ex-chief Ed Carey. “That’s been relaxed a bit recently, but the overwhelming majority of members are still Polish.”

The company’s Polish legacy can be traced back to its 12 founding members. They all lived in the downtown neighborhood that was just starting to become known as Polish Town, due to the wave of Eastern European families who immigrated to Riverhead at the turn of the 20th century.

Those families began to form a thriving Polish community, carving out a small piece of Riverhead for themselves. Polish shops and eateries offered immigrants everything they needed to survive in the new world, often without having to speak a word of English.

As Polish Town flourished, its inhabitants constructed a Roman Catholic church, St. Isidore’s where Mass could be celebrated in the Polish language and tradition. They built a gathering space for community functions, Polish Hall, and, in October of 1915, founded their own company in the Riverhead Fire Department.

Before the company’s firehouse was built on Hamilton Avenue in the 1920s, the Eagle Hose Company’s first meetings were held at a member’s house on Pulaski Street. The company derived its name from the eagle on the white-and-red Polish coat of arms.

Its meetings were, unsurprisingly, conducted in Polish.

“It’s still very important to us,” said Carey, who served as captain of the Eagles from 1996 to 1997. “We just had a nice influx of young Polish men, and we’re very proud of that.”

Several generations of Polish fathers and sons have helped maintain the company’s heritage. “We’re very tradition-oriented,” Carey explained. “The Eagles have always had a distinct father-and-son pattern. Many of our members have followed in their father’s footsteps to join.”

Carey’s own grandfather was a member of the Eagles, which he said was a large factor in his decision to join 30 years ago.

Since its founding, the Eagle Hose company has played a significant role in the fire department. The Eagle Hose’s “Flying Eagles” drill team made many showings in statewide competitions. When they joined forces with the department’s other drill team to form the Ironmen in 1935, Riverhead took the statewide drill team championship during the Ironmen’s first year of existence.

Today, the Eagle Hose Company has produced 11 of the fire department’s chiefs – the second largest number of chiefs of the department’s six companies. Three of the seven members of the board of fire commissioners belong to the Eagles, including Carey. Several of the company’s 35 members have served in the department for 50 years or longer.

Eagle Hose Company held a dinner to celebrate its centennial anniversary Saturday night at Polish Hall.