The Ridley Park town hall which was destroyed by fire early on Thursday morning, was a frame structure, 30 X 45 feet, built some 5 years ago at the intersection of Tome and Darby streets. The upper floor served as a council chamber and answered the purpose fairly well, while the lower floor comprised a meeting room for the fire company, space for the fire truck, hose carriage, ladders, hose, etc., and a couple of cells which did duty as the borough’s lock up.

The fire is thought to have started in one of these cells, and to have been of incendiary origin. The bell was vigorously rung, but the intense heat compelled the ringer to soon desist. All the maps, plans, stationary, and other moveable belongings of the Borough Council were totally destroyed. The two wheel hose reel with about 500 feet of hose were also destroyed. The large truck, the hose carriage, and about 1000 feet of hose, the property of the borough were gotten out and saved. The bell fell through the burning debris to the ground, and did also the safe, and were pulled out of harm’s way by willing hands.

The above building was insured and the fire company also had $300 of insurance on their apparatus. The latter was placed temporarily in the carriage shed attached to the Baptist Church, but other quarters will be secured, pending the building of a new fire hall.

Special arrangements have been made in the meantime to ring the schoolhouse bell and the Baptist Church bell in case of other fires. The above hall did not cost more than $2,000, and has long been considered an eyesore, so that if a more modern and commodious building is erected, it will be a good thing.

Too much praise cannot be given to the members of the Ridley Park Fire Company and also the citizens who did all that was possible under the circumstances.