History of the Aston-Beechwood Volunteer Fire Co. 1 dates back to 1941. Ed Cordell the company's founder and first president, moved his family to the Beechwood Park section of Aston Township. His home was located about 500 yards from the current firehouse on Mount Road. Mr. Cordell made his living as an Engineer and Builder, and held fire protection highly.

In 1945 he set out to interest neighbors in Beechwood Park in a new fire company. He aroused interest in 25 families and the group began to raise funds. A host of fundraisers were held in the Cordell's backyard and soon a slate of business officers were named to control the monies raised. The first purchases were 2 lots for a firehouse and plans to buy apparatus were made.

Although Mr. Cordell kept up interest in the prospect of a fire company with his neighbors, interest sagged. At one point only Cordell and one other member showed up to a monthly meeting. The project seemed lost.

Cordell was unaffected by the lack of interest and still held raffles and benefits to raise money. Soon help arrived in the persons of Harold Eusden and Thomas Fisher. A meeting was scheduled to interest the families living in the nearby Aston Mills area and to rekindle the original interest of the Beechwood Park Inhabitants.

On September 3, 1947 men met in Cordell's backyard and named him President, Howard Poore, Vice President, Harry Miller, Treasurer, Harold Eusden, Financial Secretary, and Thomas Fisher, Jesse Cullison, Harry McClyment, and Ben Gamble Directors. The newly elected officers went about the task of gaining a charter from the township to become the Aston-Beechwood Volunteer Fire Company, #1.

In February 1948 their dream was met when the Aston Township Board of Commissioners granted them the charter. At that point the membership consisted of 68 members, odds and ends of fire equipment and a 1923 Hale pumper with a 500 gallon tank purchased from Haddon Heights, NJ for the price of $1500.

The new fire company elected as its first fire officers: Jim Smith-Fire Chief, and James Martin-Assistant Chief. They housed their truck and held their meetings and stored their equipment in a garage on Cordell's property. Corn Boils, wild game dinners, dances and raffles followed as the men set out to bring the company to a more permanent location.

Mention is made in minutes of meetings in 1946 of a Ladies Auxillary, but action was not taken until a resolution was passed on May 3, 1951. The Ladies ran a Coffee Wagon and at one time had two, having paid $600 for their last one in 1970. The Ladies Auxiliary was active until about 1974.

Members bought the land where the current firehouse is located in 1949. The original firehouse was moved from Cordell's property to the top of the hill on the present driveway by James Goodale and several other members on the back of Goodale's beer truck. In 1951 the first cinder block building was erected on the site of what is now the lower end of the current building. In 1966 a new addition was constructed adding a large bay and kitchen. In 1976, during the Bicentennial Year the bell in front of the firehouse was donated and dedicated to the members of Aston-Beechwood by the members of Franklin Hose Company in Chester.

In 1988 tragedy struck the Aston-Beechwood Volunteer Fire Company. FF Herbert Pinkowicz was responding to the firehouse to answer an alarm and was involved in a motor vehicle accident. As a result of the accident, FF Pinkowicz succumbed to his injuries. FF Pinkowicz is the only member of ABFC to have died in the line of duty.

In 1990 another section was added to the building at the cost of $130,000. This addition added 4 new engine bays and two offices. This allowed us to convert the older bay into a crew room.

In 1997 the entire firehouse was knocked down except the 4 engine bays built in 1990. On this same space, a new bay facing the Chester Creek, several offices and a banquet hall capable of holding 125 people was built. This building project cost $680,000 and was dedicated on June 6, 1998. In addition, we held the Delaware County Fireman's Association parade and housed our 1995 Luverne Pumper, 1997 PL ambulance and 1997 Chevy Tac unit.

In 1975 the Aston-Beechwood Vol. Fire Co. went into the ambulance business when they received the charter from the Aston Commissioners. At one time, Aston-Beechwood operated 3 basic life support ambulances. Over the years, ABFC has had Chevy squads, Cadillacs, Dodges, Pontiacs and Ford/Brauns. Currently the EMS Division runs two ambulances, a 2003 Ford Horton Type III and a 2000 Ford Horton Type III.Over the last several years, the EMS call volume constantly has grown. In 2003, EMS 72 responded to 1400 calls for help.

In 2000, noticing the large demand for EMS response during the daytime hours and realizing the demographics of today's volunteers, a paid system was put into place. A full time Aston-Beechwood EMT and a Paramedic from Crozer-Chester Medical Center staffed the first due ambulance from 07:00-19:00 seven days a week until July 1, 2003. Currently, ABFC is continuing to grow, as is Aston Township. Along with this growth comes an increased call volume as well as increased demands on the volunteers. To accommodate this, ABFC and Crozer EMS revamped their EMS operations in Aston. On March 3, 2004, Medic 72-7 was placed in service. This unit is the primary EMS unit in Aston and is staffed with a ABFC EMT and CCMC paramedic. Our BLS ambulance is still staffed by all volunteers.

Thanks to the hard work of a few men in the 1940's the dream of Aston-Beechwood Volunteer Fire Company was realized, today we continue to honor their memory and the memory of members to come serving our neighbors in the way they had visualized.

Thank You to Ron Jones for compiling the data for this article.