For more than a hundred years, the volunteer firemen of the City of Reading, Pennsylvania, rendered faithful, unselfish, and often heroic service, honoring the ideal that a man lay down his life for his fellow man. Reading's volunteer fire organizations included Rainbow Fire Company No. 1, instituted March 17, 1773; Junior No. 2, instituted December 2, 1813; Reading Hose No. 1, instituted July 4, 1819; Neversink No. 3, instituted April 14, 1829; Friendship No. 4, instituted March 4, 1849; Liberty No. 5, instituted January 21, 1854; Washington No. 2, instituted September 17, 1855; Keystone No. 1, instituted January 19, 1856; Hampden No. 6, instituted September 7, 1867; Marion No. 10, instituted October 1, 1881; Riverside No. 11, instituted January 27, 1890; Schuylkill No. 12, instituted January 1, 1892; Union No. 13, instituted March 18, 1898; and Oakbrook No. 14, instituted May 2, 1915. Later additions included the R.F.D. Under-Water Rescue and Recovery Squad, established March 1962; the Fire and Rescue Explorer Post #290, established March 15, 1975; and the R.F.D. Canteen, established May 10, 1975.