This history is dedicated to firemen Edward Evans and Lemuel C. “Junior” Hitchens whose leadership and dedication to the fire service have made the steep and long climb to success much easier for us all.

May God Bless Them !

We dedicate this second writing to those who have served as administrators and line officers over the past fifty three years. Who without there dedication to duty the company would not be the well equipped and efficient organization that it is today.

May God Bless Them !

Benjamin Franklin realizing the need for fire protection organized the fire volunteer fire company in Philadelphia in 1736. The progression of the volunteer fire service gravitated to the insurance companies in 1752 who formed Fire Brigades (Companies) to protect the properties they had insured. Wherever the need for fire protection became prevalent, fire companies would incorporate and perform the community service of fire protection. The need for a fire company at Slaughter Beach became quite evident in the early 1950’s.

Such were the beginning seeds for the establishment of the “Memorial Volunteer Fire Company of Slaughter Beach, Delaware”. This history will trace the establishment, growth, and progression of Station 89 from 1954 to the present year 2007.

Slaughter Beach is located in Northeastern Sussex County, Delaware. The winter population is approximately 100 and swells to 500 during the summer months. Historically the town has been a summer recreational area and the Mispillion River the home port for recreation and commercial fishing fleets. Many of the boat captains and their families made their permanent home here and earned their living as watermen, crabbing, fishing, oystering, or claming in the bay. The Mispillion Lighthouse Marina was the home port for a fleet of charter boats that did recreational fishing.

Most of the watermen have disappeared and the fishing fleets now consist of a few boats moored in Cedar Creek. These have been replaced by the Mispillion boat storage facility which houses many recreational fishing boats.

The citizens of Slaughter Beach work in many of the nearby communities and summer residences are owned by people from other counties and states.

Bay Avenue (Route 36) runs the entire four-mile length of the town and is fronted by beachfront properties on the east and also dwellings on the west side of the highway. Marsh and farm land stretch from the town limits to the hamlet of Argos Corner to the west, the Delaware Bay to the east, Fowlers Beach to the south, and the Cedar Neck Church to the north. This comprises the fire territory of the Memorial Volunteer Fire Company.