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March 7, 1853, Mr. Solomon Willard presented to the town this lot of land. In 1846 a bell was purchased for the Granite House at a cost of $122.
This building was used as a hose house after the Granite engine was put out of commission. In 1895 the present building was erected and the apparatus was removed to the new house.
The Granite in 1911 Fireman’s Parade, on the engine are seated Galen V. Bowditch and William S. Hobart (familiarly known as “Steve”) two veteran firemen of the old town fire department.
The Granite Vets at muster at Braintree, 1920.
Chief Walter Ripley of the Quincy Fire Dept.
JW Hall H and L truck stationed at West Quincy for a few years previous to the present motorized apparatus being installed.
Great Blue Hill, rising 635 feet above the sea, is the highest land in eastern Massachusetts. From its summit a view is obtained of twenty five miles, and a circuit of 150 miles + 125 villages lie within sight of a telescope.
Great Blue Hill was occupied during the Revolutionary War by soldiers as a point of lookout. Here in 1776 the Gen. Court ordered beacons to be erected and manned with forces sufficient to keep them in working order. May 30, 1798 a foundation of heavy stone was constructed 21 feet square and 10 feet in height a three story observatory was erected on the summit to be used in connection with a tavern which was located at the foot of the hill. Four years later the observatory was blown down and a new one erected. In 1822 it was again repaired and remained many years contributing greatly in the pleasure of numerous visitors on the hill.
About the year 1837 the authorities of Harvard College erected, near the summit a circular stone tower 12 feet in diameter at the base, about six feet at the top and 20 feet high. It was set due south from the old observatory at Cambridge, for the purpose of securing a meridian line.
In 1845 the United States Coast survey erected a tall shaft of wood surmounted by a cylindrical body of furnished metal, which rendered it visible at a distance of 40 to 50 miles and made this station an important one in the Coast Survey. In 1885 this station was occupied by the United States Geological Survey in connection with the State Topographical Survey.
Mr. Abbott Lawrence Rotch in 1884 erected an observatory here, which was first occupied Feb. 1, 1885 and he sent reports of his observations to the New England Meteorological Society and to the United States Signal Service. These reports included the rainfall, velocity and direction of the wind, temperature, the paths of thunder and other storms, and also furnished weather predictions which are signaled
