Efforts to bring Sharon's first ladder truck home are pursuing $25,000 from the town's Community Preservation Act fund.

The Sharon Historical Commission recently voted to ask the community preservation committee to support spending this amount to buy a 1925 Sharon Fire Department Ladder #1 truck owned -- and restored --  by Ottawa, Canada resident Donald "Bud" Rose.

Community preservation committee support would send the $25,000 request to town meeting for approval, possibly in November, Deputy Police Chief J.J. McGrath says.

A Sharon Historical Society fundraising campaign led by members McGrath and Sharon firefighter David Martin has raised close to $5,000 between actual donations and commitments over the past month, McGrath said Monday.

The historical commission voted that any donations would fund buying Rose's custom-made trailer, and maintenance, storage and the like.

Sharon would publicly display the truck during parades and the like.

Rose has offered to sell Sharon the truck, which served Sharon from 1925 to 1957, for $25,000 and the trailer for $5,000. The trailer cost Rose $10,000.

However, Rose would "like to see this all wrapped up no later than October" because his home is for sale, McGrath said. Additional truck storage costs related to that move could increase Sharon's price, the deputy police chief said.

Fundraising will become more public over the coming weeks.

A table at Sharon's 17th annual Square Jam on Thursday, Aug. 4 will feature fliers and a donation jug, McGrath said.

Other events are being planned, he said.

So far, the effort has led to $1,000 donations from the Mangia Neapolitan Pizzeria and Mick Morgan's Irish Pub and Restaurant, McGrath said. The Sharon Fire Association and Dedham Savings Bank have both donated $500. Distinctive Fences has donated $100. Coriander Bistro has donated a $35 gift certificate. And Hefez and Sons has donated $30.

Ladder #1 served Sharon for about 30 years, until 1957, when the town bought a new ladder truck, McGrath says.

Ladder #1 was sold to the town of Dunstable, which used it until 1966, McGrath says.

Dunstable stored Ladder #1 in a barn there for the next 30 years, before Rose bought it and spent the next few years restoring it in Ottawa, McGrath says.