In 1844 what is known as the Fire District was organized.  Its territory consists of about two square miles of land, having the Park as a centre, and includes most of the buildings of the town.  It originated from the unwillingness of the outlying districts to help support a suitable fire department, of which they, themselves, felt little need.  Nevertheless, at its formation the town granted land and a sum of money.  A Chief Engineer, with seven assistants and a prudential committee were constituted officers.  Subsequently the care of sewers, sidewalks, water-works, and lighting of streets were assumed by the Fire District, and the duties were performed by commissioners.  A curious controversy, now settled, arose with the town as to which should look after the street crossings.  The fire department from the start has been sustained by the zeal of its members, and now, directed by its Chief Engineer, George S. Willis, enjoys an enviable reputation for efficiency.

[Illustration:  The park in 1876.]

[Illustration:  Academy of music.]

During the civil war the State and County are found to have acted in harmony.  The old militia system had died out many years before; in 1860 the Pittsfield Guards of 1853 was re-organized under the name of the Allen Guard, and in January of the following year declared its readiness to respond to any call from the government.  On April 19, within twenty-four hours from the time of receiving word, the company was on its way and became a portion of the Eighth regiment.  Its Captain was Henry S. Briggs, later Brigadier General, and after the war elected State Auditor.  Then, at short intervals, until the close of the war, the town sent men to the front who fully maintained its honorable reputation gained in former wars.  A Ladies’ Soldiers’ Aid Society was organized and has received much merited praise for its useful services.  The ideal volunteer soldier of the war was William F. Bartlett.  He was a student at Harvard, not yet of age when the war broke out.  In April he enlisted as a private, was appointed Captain before going to the front, and in his first engagement showed great coolness, bravery and judgment.  He was a strict disciplinarian and popular with his men.  Before the close of the war he had been brevetted Major-general.  In peace he made his influence felt in the interests of religion and education, and in the elevation of politics.

Immediately after the war public attention in the town was turned towards taking suitable action for honoring the memory of its sons who had died on the field of battle.  The result was a monument, one of the most appropriate ever erected for a similar purpose.  It is placed on the Park, a short distance from the Athenaeum.  A bronze statue of a Color-sergeant, as if in line of battle, stands upon a square granite pillar.  He looks earnestly into the distance.  The entire effect of the expression of the countenance and the attitude conveys the impression of intelligent self-reliance, a true type of our best volunteer soldiers.  On opposite sides of the pillar, are represented in bronze relief the arms of the United States and of the Commonwealth.