Today’s firefighters live and work in a time in which they can devote their full energy to the demands of the challenging profession they’ve chosen. From the earliest days of organized firefighting until the mid-twentieth century, however, firefighters often held down several jobs in addition to their departmental duties. One such firefighter, George Austin Guild, was not only the chief engineer of the Dedham Fire Department, but also ran a successful business in town for over forty years.
George Guild was born in 1836, 200 years after the first Guild, John, came to Dedham as one of the original proprietors. In 1853, at the age of 17 he joined the Hero Engine Company One, headquartered at Connecticut Corner near the Town Common. He served as the department’s chief engineer from 1877-1892, when he retired. He was a popular chief and upon his retirement was feted at the central firehouse and presented with “an elegant easy chair, and handsome, as well as valuable writing desk” according to the Boston Herald.
At the young age of twenty-three, Guild opened his business as a jeweler and watch seller in the old Dixon House, which stood on High Street across from Memorial Hall. The wooden watch sign that hung high above his shop window became one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Square. Guild operated at this location from 1859-1891, when he was forced to relocate to Washington Street as the Dixon building was being torn down to make way for the new Dedham Institution for Savings.
The wooden watch sign adorned Guild’s tiny shop for another ten years until declining health caused him to close his shop after forty-one years in business. At the time of his retirement in June,1901, Guild had been the longest serving tradesman in town.
George made his home at 41 School Street where he and his wife Abby raised their three children. Jonathan, the youngest, became a successful Dedham businessman himself, after opening a photography studio on High Street in 1891. On October 26, 1901, the 65-year old George made the short walk to the studio and posed for his son one final time. He passed away at his home just a few weeks later on November 18. The following week an obituary in the Transcript praised him as a “man of sterling traits of character, an honest citizen, a steadfast and true friend, an excellent neighbor, a firm believer in religion, temperance and morality, a good husband, a kind and loving father…”
The wooden advertising watch is on display at the Dedham Museum and Archive, 612 High Street. You can learn more about the Hero Engine Company and early firefighting in the current exhibit on the history of the Dedham Fire and Police Departments. Museum hours are Tuesday-Friday (11:00-5:00) and Saturdays (2nd & 4th of each month) 11:00-2:00. All historical images used with permission of the Dedham Museum and Archive.
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