"Images of America: Mandarin"
We are excited to announce that the first draft of this photo book about Mandarin is now at Arcadia Publishing for review. We will make a few minor adjustments on the second draft and hopefully it will then be ready to go to press soon after.
This is a sneak peek at one of the 225 B&W photos we share in the book. Most photos were in our MMHS archival collection, but many were sent to us by members of the community to share.
This one shows the Ladies Auxiliary of the Mandarin - Loretto Volunteer Fire Dept. in the 1950s. The ladies are being trained to fill the pumper truck with water from the well at the Church of Our Saviour (COOS) and to use the hose. This is how water was obtained for the truck - from the wells of COOS and individual families. There were no fire hydrants! When there was a fire, a phone number was called that went to one of the wives of the firemen. The women were manning the phone line. They would then call all the volunteers (most whom were at work) and they would go the the station, get the truck and head to the fire. Consolidation brought big changes and improvements to Mandarin's firefighting and rescue capacity.
Seen from left to right: Paul Dempsey, Ivy Nicholl (in the cab - she actually drove trucks in France during WWI), Dot Sanders and Marjorie Folds.
MMHS will be forever grateful to Susan Ford, one of our founders and current Board member, who had the long-time dream and drive to produce this book. She has spent the last two years putting it together with the help of Sandy Arpen and Leann Arndt. It is truly a gift to the museum and community from Susan. We hope to see it in print late this year. Stay tuned.
