B.F.McNitt was elected our first President (the position wasn’t called Mayor until the village was re-incorporated in 1924). McNitt owned a clothing store located about where today’s Post Office is.
Although the 1866 incorporation united the East End (North White Creek) and the West End (Cambridge Corners), the villagers still didn’t trust each other. Therefore, our original Cambridge Village Board had 3 trustees from the East District and 3 trustees from the West District. The original trustees were (from the East End): William Bockes, Herbert Hodges, Charles Warner, and (from the West End) Wells, George Baker, and J.J.Gray.
J.J.Gray lived in the house that is now Cambridge Guest Home (Meikleknox). He helped organize the first Cambridge Fire Department (which is also celebrating its 150th anniversary this year). JJ helped purchase the JJ Gray Pumper and the first fire house was named after him.
The fire station building housed the fire department, the village jail, and the animal pound. Cambridge was a very raucous village and the village Lock-Up was heavily used especially on weekends. The overcrowding of our local jail may have helped lead to the building of the County Jail in Salem.
These photos show the JJ Gray pumper and fire station
