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Sirens and bells played a loud role in Saratoga's past

By Willys Peck

There may be communities characterized by certain types of sounds, most likely of an industrial nature or some kind of nature activity, but I don't think Saratoga fits this category. Sounds we've got, but nothing of a sufficiently dominating nature to be a factor in municipal personality. Nevertheless, I can think of a couple of auditory experiences that registered on my inner being to the point that I give them LIP (Living In the Past) service.

I'm talking about sirens and bells. Now, only the former are really in evidence here. Living as we do on Saratoga Avenue close to the Village, my wife and I get plenty of siren action from the those red engines as they leave the fire station heading east. Then there is an occasional meat wagon--I like that Army term for ambulance--and on even rarer occasions, a sheriff's car engaged in hot pursuit.

The alarm signal that comes to my mind most vividly is the fire siren that occupied a small cupola atop the old Saratoga Garage. I recall that the site was somewhere between the present fire station and Blaney Plaza.

The garage was a typical auto repair facility of the period, complete with tow truck, and it also accommodated the Saratoga Fire District's two pieces of equipment. My earliest recollection is of a Model T Ford hose wagon and a Model A Ford "chemical engine." The Model T was retired in 1937 when the district acquired a Diamond T truck. Those Model T's were indestructible, though, and this one did many years' service as an orchard truck for Walter Worden. I think he paid $50 for it.

But back to the sirens. The one on the garage for many years was sounded as a noon whistle. That was a single blast. Anything longer than that indicated there was a fire in progress, and this was the signal for the volunteers to turn out. The person taking the call wrote the fire's location on a special blackboard, which was placed in the garage's large window. Volunteers would drive past, note the location and proceed on to it.

I don't know what became of that siren, but I'd say it's worthy of preservation as a piece of Saratoga history.

As to bells, their ringing was once quite frequently heard here, but now we're down to just one that's operational, and I haven't heard it for some time. That's the one in the tower of the Federated Church Chapel, part of the structure's original portion that was designed by famed architect Julia Morgan.

That bell had hung in the Congregational Church on Oak Street, near the site of the present school. The church had been built in 1876 and the bell was added two years later. I knew that bell well, having been hired in 1939 as a sort of sexton. (You don't hear that word very often now. Look it up.) For 75 cents a Sunday, I'd get up to light the furnace at 2 a.m. in the winter. Then, year-round, I'd open the building for church services and Sunday school use, locking up afterward. And I'd ring the bell.

Over the years, the bell's clapper--the part that does the striking--had worn down more on one side than the other, so it was necessary to hold the rope for a fraction of a second to give that flat side some extra momentum in striking. I was coached in all this by the Rev. Dr. Burton M. Palmer, who, leaving after a 10-year tenure, had done all the miscellaneous chores that I was being hired to perform.

Other bells in town included the one in the 1895 Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Sixth Street and Big Basin Way, now hung in the center of the cross at the present edifice on Saratoga Avenue. In its original location, that bell was part of the Sunday morning church sounds pleasant to hear. Another of the town's bells heard in recent years was that in the 1912 building of the Odd Fellows Home, now the Saratoga Retirement Community. I don't know if it's still in use.

Among historic Saratoga bells seen but not heard is the town fire bell, probably circa 1903, that hung in a steel tower next to the town jail on Fourth Street. Now it's in an unfortunately low mounting in front of the present fire station. There also is the bell from the 1898 schoolhouse on Oak Street. The bell is now in the sign in front of the school.