11. Engine Company No. 2 at the Middlesex Hotel

The manuscript record book (1841-1849) for Concord’s Engine Companies No. 2 and No. 3 shows that both companies met at the Middlesex Hotel in the 1840s for roll call and a meal. (Engine Company No. 3 also met at Bigelow’s Hotel several times.)

On January 7, 1845, Engine Company No. 2 gathered at the Middlesex and “partook of a most excellent supper prepared by our Host Mr. Wilson.” (Colonel John Wilson was then manager of the hotel.) This entry recorded by company clerk Joshua R. Brown shows that seventeen members were present at the meeting and supper, nine absent.

John Wilson’s hospitality to Engine Company No. 2 was repaid on June 10, 1845, the entry for which reads: “The Company was called out to an alarm of Fire caused by the burning of the Middlesex Hotel! The fire being extinguished the Company returned the Engine to the House. The roll was then called.” Eighteen members of the company had turned out to fight the fire.