In Memory of Jack Brennan

On July 15, 2018, one of the ten charter members of the King of Prussia Fire Company, Jack Brennan, passed away.

One incident driving the need for a fire station in King of Prussia occurred in April 7, 1950. On that fateful day, a grocery store, operated on DeKalb Pike near Gulph Road, caught fire and was destroyed. Upper Merion Township had two other volunteer fire companies, located at the south and east sections of the township. At the time, these areas were more populated and more active. Unfortunately, the other two fire companies, Swedeland and Swedesburg, were delayed as a freight train crossed DeKalb Pike at King Manor, creating a significant delay in arriving at the fire.

Forty-five days later, on May 25, 1950, a public meeting was held in the township hall. That evening, in the building known as Stewart Fund Hall, a fire company to be known as the King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company was formed.

Jack Brennan was voted its first Fire Chief and helped to purchase its first fire truck. Jack remained fire chief until 1955. Jack also served as an Upper Merion Township Police Officer from 1950 until his retirement in 1986 as a Lieutenant.

In a King of Prussia Courier article from May 23, 1979, retired Upper Merion Township Police Officer Jack Brennan recalled how he helped to organize the King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company in 1950. He related that when the first engine arrived, the company had to find someone to house it. Ed Mack had a restaurant/service station/garage. The equipment was housed at Mack’s garage until his buildings were demolished when Route 202 was widened. The company then turned to Miss Jean Supplee who lived on the corner of Route 202 and Gulph Road.

Brennan related that the equipment was housed temporarily in Jean Supplee’s old chicken house. Miss Supplee was taught how to blow the siren and how to warm up the engine so it would be ready for the responding volunteer driver and crew.

In 1952 the first official fire station was built on land obtained from William Walker adjacent to the turnpike. The King of Prussia volunteers themselves began erecting the station on Allendale Road.

The King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company completed construction of a memorial in remembrance of the September 11, 2001 tragedy. It was dedicated on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the event. The center pieces of the memorial are two steel I-beams recovered from ground zero at the World Trade Center.

Jack Brennan’s roots in our community date back to the mid 1800s when his grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of his family emigrated from Ireland. These early ancestors found work in the local mines and the families eventually settled in Bridgeport. Jack’s father William married Susannah Cassidy in 1907 in St. Augustines Church in Bridgeport. The couple lived in Bridgeport and William worked as an engineer on the railroad while Susannah stayed home. Jack was the sixth of their nine children.

Jack attended St. Augustine’s grade school and Bridgeport High School, where he ran track and played varsity football for the Bridgeport Dragons. After graduating high school in 1939, Jack spent most of his life in public service. In February of 1942, just two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Jack joined the Marines and served until 1945.

At the State Fireman’s Convention held in King of Prussia in 2000, Jack recalled the first fire that he ever put out. On the Pacific Island of Saipan, the Japanese attacked and set an ammunition dump ablaze. Jack was one of the marines delegated to put out the fire, and the U.S. Marines went on to defeat the Japanese.

Jack Brennan has been an honored member of our community. In addition to his service as a Marine in WWII, and as a police officer and fireman, Jack served Grand Marshall of the 2005 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Norristown, and also as the Grand Marshall of Upper Merion Tricentennial Parade in 2013.

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