In retrospect, November of 1969 provided a variety of historical footnotes: Elvis Presley returned to the top of the music charts with the hit song Suspicious Minds, on the 19th, Apollo 12 would land on the moon as the second manned mission to the surface, and the conflict in Viet Nam was still very much undecided.
Another footnote to this 40th anniversary year of 1969 had to do with Salvatore Cassano, a young U.S. Amy Veteran, who was appointed as a New York City Firefighter and instructed to report to the Division of training. Upon graduating proby school Cassano was assigned to Engine Company 31 in Lower Manhattan. January 24th of 1970 was his first day.
At the time, Engine 31 was housed in the quarters of Engine Company 7 and Ladder Company 1 at 100 Duane Street, but was soon relocated to share space with Engine Company 55. A short sprint away, the 31 truck found its home inside 363 Broome Street on February 26, 1970.
The apparatus assigned to Engine Company 31 prior to disbanding, was a 1962 Mack model C95F pumper with a 1000 gpm Waterous pump and a gasoline powered Mack Thermodyne engine. It was delivered to the FDNY on November 14, 1962 and placed in service originally as Engine Company 17 on January 16, 1963. The cost of this pumper was $20,949 and was one of 10 identical Mack pumpers delivered that year. It was replaced at Engine 17 in 1969 and then assigned to Engine Company 257, in Brooklyn, on June 16, 1969. It remained there until 1970 and reassigned to Engine Company 31 on May 19, 1970, replacing a 1954 Mack model 19LS 1000 gpm high-pressure open cab pumper that had been in service as Engine 31 from February 24, 1954 until May 19, 1970. That 1962 Mack remained at Engine 31 until they were disbanded on November 25, 1972 and was then used as a spare for a few years before assignment to the Division of Training on October 10, 1975. It was relinquished on September 13, 1976.
For a good 30 years, Engine 31 operated on Leonard until moving, with Water Tower 1, on June 3, 1896, to an ornate new firehouse on the corner of Elm and White Street, Manhattan. Almost a decade later, on December 15, 1905, the official address of this building was changed to 87 Lafayette Street. At that time, it was the biggest and most expensive of all FDNY fire stations with an exterior resembling an ancient castle, the interior constructed of Italian marble.
