Shark City, Finn Town & Clarence the Shark
By Retired Fire Chief Joe Maruca
December 28, 2023
Long before the movie “Jaws”, and before Great White Sharks started to make their home in Cape Cod waters, West Barnstable was known as “Shark City” and “Finn Town.” While these shark images have been appearing on West Barnstable Fire Department trucks and helmets for about 45 years, those nicknames actually have nothing to do with the sharks that swim.
“Shark City” refers to the geographic area around the West Barnstable Railroad Station on RT 149.The story goes that way back in the day when tourists came to Cape Cod by train from New York, Boston, and points beyond, the conductors would walk through the train announcing “Shark City next stop” as they approached the West Barnstable Train Station.
That announcement was a cue to the passengers who were coming to the Cape to gamble and play cards that this was their stop. “Shark” meant Card Sharks. Apparently in or around the West Barnstable Railroad Station there were several regular and well-known card games.
And if you look closely, you’ll see that many of the shark images on West Barnstable Fire Trucks include playing cards, typically four aces.
“Finn Town” is the area around the intersection of Main Street, Plum Street, and Church Street, roughly between Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church and the First Lutheran Church. At one time this area was a neighborhood in the village where many employees of the West Barnstable Brick Company lived. The West Barnstable Brick Company operated in the marsh just northeast of this area from 1878 to 1932.Most of its employees were Finnish and Italian immigrants who settled in West Barnstable. The Finnish immigrants built several Lutheran Churches, and the Italians built the Catholic Church. But it was the Finnish immigrants, or “Finns”, who lent their name to this part of West Barnstable.
One more detail about the WBFD shark logo. The shark that you see on West Barnstable Fire Trucks and Helmets is named “Clement.” I named him that because about 15-20 years ago, I came across an old railroad map of Southeastern Massachusetts. The map identified West Barnstable as “Clement”. Among my extensive efforts to figure out why West Barnstable was called Clement on this map, I consulted with the members of the Cape Cod Chapter of the Nation Railroad Historical Society, and they believed that Clement was likely the name of the head telegraph operator at the West Barnstable RR Station, and that tapping out “Clement” on the telegraphic key was faster and easier than tapping out “West Barnstable”. And that using Clement instead of West Barnstable avoided any confusion with Barnstable. Apparently, it was common for telegraph operators of the time to use names this way.
.-- . ... - / -... .- .-. -. ... - .- -... .-.. = West Barnstable
-.-. .-.. . -- . -. - =Clement
Who would guess today that West Barnstable was once a thriving railroad town with a lot of great history and cool nicknames? Our village was also a hotbed of revolutionary activity during the American Revolution. But that’s a story for another day.