The City Of Chester.

tary, H. L. Donaldson; Solicitor, John B. Hannum. The Provident Building and Loan Association was organized October, 1883, - President, Joseph F. Brewster; Secretary, Garrett Pendleton; Treasurer, Oliver Troth; Solicitor, Patrick Bradley. The Industrial Building and Loan Association was established June, 1884, - President, Josiah C. Ross; Treasurer, D. M. Johnson; Secretary, Oliver Troth; Solicitor, Edmund Jones.

The Military. - Since the conclusion of the civil war there have been several military organizations in Chester under State regulations, but owing to the defective feature of the law, the companies, until the recent revision of the statutes governing those bodies, were usually short-lived. The present effective management of the National Guard of Pennsylvania gives promise of more thoroughness in the militia, and hence it may reasonably be expected that Company B, of the Sixth Regiment, will have a longer existence than any organization which has preceded it.

The first company of soldiers in Chester, after the time mentioned, was the Chester City Safeguards, a colored company of militia, organized in 1870, and commanded in succession by Andrew Johnson, Isaac B. Colwell, and Isaac Emory, until the fall of 1872, when it was disbanded.

On Sept. 12, 1872, Company A, of the Gartside Rifle Battalion, was organized, with Capt. Daniel Brown commanding. Capt. Brown subsequently was appointed major, and George F. Springer was elected captain of Company A in his stead. Company B, of the same regiment, was organized March 19, 1873. Capt. David S. Gwynn commanding; but he resigned, and the company elected William A. Todd as captain. The organization finally disbanded. In July, 1875, the Morton Rifles, so called in honor of John Morton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, was organized, with James Barton, Jr., as captain, and in August, 1875, was mustered into the Eleventh Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania. Capt. Barton was subsequently promoted aid to Gen. Dobson, and Charles A. Story, Jr., was elected to the captaincy. Subsequently Capt. Story resigned, and John M. Householder was chosen to succeed him. During the riots of July, 1877, the company was ordered to Pittsburgh, where it did good service, but was the next year mustered out. The Hartranft Rifles were organized January, 1876, by Capt. Perry M. Washabaugh, and April 20, 1876, were mustered into service as Company B, Eleventh Regiment, and subsequently, after the appointment of Capt. Washabaugh to the staff of the brigadier-general commanding the division, he was succeeded by Robert H. Wood, and followed by William H. Williams. This company was also called into active duty during the Pittsburgh riots, and was finally mustered out of service.

Company A, Eleventh Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, was mustered into service March 30, 1881, with B. F. Morley, captain; Frank G. Sweeney, first lieutenant; and John J. Hare, second lieutenant. The company soon showed such efficiency in drill that, when the State authorities consolidated the military force of the commonwealth, - although the youngest company in the State, - by general order No. 11, July 8, 1881, the title of the company was changed to B, Sixth Regiment, First Brigade, National Guard of Pennsylvania. In the summer of the same year a scheme was broached by Lieut.-Col. Washabaugh towards erecting an armory, and to that end a charter was obtained, stock was taken by several prominent citizens, a lot, sixty feet in front by one hundred and twenty feet in depth, was purchased, and an armory, after a design by P. A. Welsh, was built. The structure, begun Aug. 4, 1881, costing, including land, about fifteen thousand dollars, is too recent to require fuller description here. Sufficient it is to say that it is the home of one of the best, if not the best-drilled company in the service of the State, and is an ornament and a credit to our city. The building, located on the south side of Fifth Street, east of Crosby Street, was opened on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1881, with a fair which lasted ten days, and yielded several thousand dollars towards the liquidation of the debt of the armory company.

The roll of Company B at the present time is as follows:

Capt. Frank G. Sweeney was a military instructor at Pennsylvania Military Academy from September, 1877, to June, 1879; elected 1st lieut. Co. A, 11th Regt., March 30, 1881 (changed to Co. B, 6th Regt., July 8, 1881); elected capt. Co. B, 6th Regt., Dec. 4, 1882.

First Lieutenant James A. Campbell enl. as a private in Co. A, 11th Regt., March 30, 1881; app. 2d sergt. June 6, 1881 (changed to Co. B, 6th Regt., July 8, 1881); pro. to 1st sergt. July 29, 1881; elected 1st lieut. Jan. 8, 1883.

Second Lieutenant George C. de Lannoy enl. as a private in Co. A, 11th Regt., March 30, 1881; app. 4th sergt. June 6, 1881 (changed to Co. B, 6th Regt., July 8, 1881); pro. to 3d sergt. July 29, 1881; pro. to 2d sergt. Oct. 19, 1882; pro. to 1st sergt. Nov. 17, 1882; elected 2d lieut. Feb. 5, 1883.

Sergeants, T. Edward Clyde, J. Frank Fairlamb, Horace F. Larkin, Harwell A. Cloud, J. Engle Baker.

Corporals, William J. Morgan, Charles B. Ross, J. Alexander Cochrane, Milton M. Allen, Robinson McCurdy, George C. Worrell, Samuel A. Price, Frank L. Brown.

Privates, James H. Birtwell, Theodore Blakeley, Charles B. Catling, Radcliffe Chadwick, William G. Clyde, William R. Carson, William H. Derbyshire, Dean J. Deakyne, Edward Dougherty, Jackson B. Fields, Arthur Grant, U. S. Grant, N. Clarence Grove, Emil O. Haas, Alfred Hinkson, Lewis E. Hinkson, John A. Ladomus, Edward Miles, Frank B. Eddy, George C. Johnson, R. Bruce Mowry, Alvin G. Mills, Theodore Mooney, Charlton McCurdy, Edwin P. McIlvain, Harry S. McIlvain, Edward A. Price, Arthur G. Rose, Matthew F. Ross, R. Wilson Roberts, D. Elmer Reasin, William S. Ranier, Hilyard B. Sweeney, Charles R. Sweeney, Garrett G. Slawter, George B. Smedley, William N. Sparks, Horace F. Temple, David M. Unanst, J. M. B. Ward, S. Ulrich Ward, Robert P. Wilson.

The Fire Department. - As early in our history as October, 1696, an act was passed by the Colonial Assembly designed "for preventing of accidents that may happen by fire in the towns of Philadelphia and New Castle," and as the provisions of this law were made in 1700 operative in Chester also, it is interesting to learn the safeguards which by legal enactments our ancestors attempted to establish in the infant settlements