SMITHVILLE FLATS – More than one hundred people turned out Saturday to celebrate the grand opening of the Genegantslet Fire Company’s new fire station.
The event marked a long-awaited milestone for the 159-year old volunteer department.
The GFC purchased the three-acre piece of property on which the new facility sits in 2000, when the department’s leaders first decided to replace the existing 1950s era fire house. It took 10 years for the organization to raise money to break ground on the project, which they did last September.
The new 7,500 square foot facility has four equipment bays to house the department’s fire trucks, as well as a radio room, chief’s room, maintenance room, kitchen and dedicated meeting/banquet space.
Genegantslet Fire Chief Bob Whitmore said he expects the final price tag for the fire station to be between $620,000 to $650,000. The department has received bank financing for roughly a third of that amount. The remainder, they have raised themselves.
The fire company received two large donations toward the project: a $100,000 matching grant from the Raymond Foundation and a bequeath from Smithville residents Henry and Ruth Bottle of over $38,000.
How did they manage to raise the remaining $200,000? Through countless pancake breakfasts, chicken barbecues, can and bottle drives, letter drives and more.
Smithville Town Supervisor Allan Johnson was one of several local dignitaries present for the ceremony. He praised the men and women of the Genegantslet Fire Company for their tenacity, hard work, perseverance and persistence in seeing the project through to completion.
On behalf of the town, he offered “sincere and heart-felt congratulations” to the department and the community for this accomplishment, of which he said they all can be proud.
