The Wilmington Police Department Ambulance Service operated from 1934 until 1956. Obtaining an ambulance was initially the endeavor of Chief Harry Ainsworth and several concerned townspeople whereas no such service had existed previously. In fact, the police department’s first patrol car only pre-dated the ambulance by a few years, and it had been almost immediately pressed into secondary service as such on many occasions. Prior to 1930 however, private vehicles or vehicles for hire were used for police work and the transport of the sick or injured whenever the police department was called for assistance. Seeing the absolute need for such a service, Chief Ainsworth worked tirelessly to organize its inception. According to the 1934 Annual Town Report, a Lincoln sedan was obtained from a Mr. Edgerley of Reading. Although details are not forthcoming, the vehicle was probably a used hearse from the Edgerley Funeral Home in that town. The 200th Anniversary Committee, formed for the town’s bicentennial in 1930, contributed unspent funds towards the new ambulance. After acquiring and outfitting the vehicle it was housed at the fire station on Church Street with the cooperation of Fire Chief Edwin Day. However, it was staffed and operated by Wilmington Police Officers. It officially entered service in July of 1934. A revolving ambulance fund was established, and it was a common sight to find donation containers set up in local eateries and stores during the fledgling years of the service. In 1941 the Town obtained a new, state of the art Cadillac ambulance. This new vehicle was later garaged in the Church St. police station (adjacent to Church St. Hardware). One of its more notable service calls was when it was dispatched to Boston in November of 1942 to assist at the Cocoanut Grove Fire disaster. On November 28, and into the early morning hours of November 29, 1942, Deputy Chief Hoban and Officer George Fuller were at the catastrophic scene where they transported some of the injured to Cambridge City Hospital. The Cadillac remained in service until the early 1950s when it was damaged in a crash. In 1956, when the new combined police and fire station opened on Church Street, Wilmington Fire Department assumed control of the Town’s ambulance service.
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