Randolph “Dolph” Doherty was born in 1880 to a bee rancher in the Bakersfield-Fresno area. After heading out on his own at 16, he worked at a dairy ranch, drove horses in oil fields, worked at his uncle’s lumber company and married his childhood friend, Nellie. In early 1906, Doherty accepted his cousin Earle Doherty’s offer to manage his lumber company on Magnolia Avenue in Larkspur. In 1909, Doherty purchased his cousin’s lumberyard and changed the name to Larkspur Lumber Co.

The Larkspur Volunteer Fire Department was formed in the early 1900s in response to the fires in San Rafael, Sausalito and San Francisco. It began with a “bucket brigade” and a hand-drawn hose cart. The original firehouse was located on the lumber company’s property. In December 1913, the loosely organized group became incorporated as the Larkspur Association of Volunteer Firemen and was given space in the new Town Hall building. In the first meeting, Doherty was elected chief and would go on to be its president for decades.

To raise much-needed funds, the fire department hosted Rose Bowl dances.

The origin of the Rose Bowl is believed to have started with Larkspur’s Booster Day in September 1909. Doherty was credited with the idea of the dances as a fundraiser for the town’s all-volunteer fire department. It took a few years to pick up speed, but the benefit dances became such a big success that they raised enough money to build their first firehouse behind City Hall, in addition to purchasing a half-acre redwood grove on Cane Street in Larkspur for a permanent dance. The dances brought in about $75,000 a year and eventually would pay for the first motorized fire engine in 1916, a water system and fire hydrants, a fire alarm system and a fire station. Dances were held Saturdays from April through October.

A Jan. 13, 1939, article in the Larkspur-Corte Madera News reported that “the Larkspur Fire Department is one of the most unique ones in the United States. It costs the taxpayers of the town not a cent to maintain. … It is not thought that any other town in the United States of like, or larger size, can boast a self-supporting fire organization.”

Plans for a new firehouse were announced in 1938, with the Larkspur City Council providing a site on a city-owned lot adjacent to City Hall. About a year later, a new firehouse was opened at 420 Magnolia Ave. in Larkspur. It cost $25,000, paid entirely by proceeds from the Rose Bowl dances.

During World War II, the Larkspur Lumber Co. was used as a staging area for construction of the Marin City and Hilarita housing projects. It took two years for Doherty and his business partner, Burt Wheeler, to get the yard back from the government.

Doherty was considered “one of the most energetic and influential citizens for five decades.”

On his 76th birthday, Doherty closed the volunteer fire department’s 47-year run as a volunteer unit, turning it over to the city Dec. 5, 1956. In addition to $25,000 in assets, the firehouse, trucks and equipment were also turned over. Special plaques were set up in the firehouse in honor of old-timers Doherty and Arthur “Cap” Larson.

On Oct. 5, 1959, Randolph “Dolph” Doherty died unexpectedly due to a heart attack. The Larkspur City Council paid tribute “to a man who gave so much to the city” by naming a new road to Hall Middle School Doherty Drive.

History Watch is written by Lane Dooling, marketing and social media coordinator at the Marin History Museum, marinhistory.org. Images included in History Watch are available for purchase by calling 415-382-1182 or by email at info@marinhistory.org