[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 12, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E825-E826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     RECOGNIZING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF HALLS HILL STATION NO. 8

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. DONALD S. BEYER, JR.

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 12, 2018

  Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 100th 
Anniversary of Arlington, Virginia's Halls Hill Station No. 8, which is 
being honored at the African American Fire Fighters Historical 
Society's 8th Annual Salute Dinner. As the Civil War ended, freed 
slaves in Arlington set out to build a community and independent life. 
Many settled in the Halls Hill neighborhood, making it North 
Arlington's first African American community. There they built a 
supportive community with sprawling businesses, civic organizations, 
and support services. One of the most respected and treasured of those 
service organizations is Fire Station No. 8.
   In 1918, twenty years after Arlington County's first firefighting 
company was established, a group of African American men formed a 
volunteer fire department to bring fire protection to the African 
American community of Halls Hill. At the time, the Halls Hill African 
American community, which began as a home for freed slaves after the 
Civil War, was kept separate from adjacent white communities, in part, 
by an 8-foot wooden fence. Initially, the Halls Hill firefighters had 
only a 60-gallon chemical tank--pulled by six men over unpaved and 
muddy roads--that was housed on the grounds of the John Langston 
Elementary School. In 1925, the seven-year-old Halls Hill Station No. 8 
held its first elections and, through door-to-door canvassing 
campaigns, raised enough money to procure the Station's first motor-
driven engine. In 1927, the Halls Hill Volunteer Fire Department was 
officially incorporated and moved to a new location on Lee Highway, 
which featured a telephone by which fire calls were routed through the 
chief operator of the local telephone company.
   With Arlington County starting to fund equipment and utilities for 
volunteer fire companies, the 1930s proved much more rewarding for the 
previously neglected Halls Hill Volunteer Fire Department. With County 
support, the Halls Hill Volunteer Fire Department obtained its first 
pumper as well as a 1929 Diamond-T truck. The Hicks family, who owned 
several community businesses, also offered property for a new 
firehouse, which quickly became a de facto community center for local 
news and conversation. The new firehouse featured such attractions as a 
pay phone and soda machine as well as a blaring siren to summon 
volunteers to the firehouse. Around this time, the Arlington County 
Fireman's Association was founded as a network for Arlington fire 
companies, but did not include Halls Hill Volunteer Fire Department.
   In 1940, Arlington County began funding professional fire staff to 
work within the volunteer companies. Eleven years later, Halls Hill 
became the last firefighting company in the county to be assigned paid 
professionals. The original professional firefighters assigned in 1951 
to Station No. 8, in order of hire, were Alfred Clark, Julian Syphax, 
George McNeal, and Archie Syphax. Later, Hartman Reed, James K. Jones, 
Carroll Deskins, Henry Vincent, Carl Cooper, Ervin Richardson, Jimmy 
Terry, Wilton Hendricks, Bill Warrington and Bobby Hill were also 
hired. As a segregated station, Halls Hill Station No. 8 sought to 
prioritize serving the immediate community. However, firefighters 
assigned to the Station were routinely dispatched on calls outside 
their first due area. On these dispatches, firefighters were often 
berated, even by the residents the firefighters were attempting to 
help.
   Career advancement opportunities for African American firefighters 
at that time were limited to Fire Station No. 8. Nonetheless, in 1957, 
Alfred Clark became the first African American fire captain in the 
County and continued to serve at Station No. 8. His daughter Kitty 
recalls that when the station later became integrated in the 1960s, 
some white firefighters said they ``would not serve under a `Ni. . .' 
and even wrote it on the chalkboard. The battalion chief, upon 
arriving, ordered it removed and told the white firefighters they will 
serve and respect Captain Clark.''
   As the main social and community center for families of the Halls 
Hill African American community, Station No. 8 was on the forefront of 
the Civil Rights Movement. There, community members advocated for a 
variety of causes, including the desegregation of public schools and 
integration of lunch counters.
   In 1962, construction began on a new Station No. 8 facility, which 
served a growing Arlington County population. However, in 1999, a study 
for the County Manager identified Station No. 8. for possible 
``relocation, consolidation, replacement or closure.'' In 2016, after 
community pushback, the Arlington County Board voted to build a new 
Fire Station No. 8 at the Lee Highway site where the Station remains 
today. 100 years after its formation, Station No. 8 has a fully paid 
staff that serves the very community that preserved Station No. 8 as a 
Halls Hill institution. Arlington County has committed to building a 
new Station No. 8 that will memorialize the countless people who have 
sustained this community asset.

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