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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3658, 28 June 1927, Page 4

The reason for the appellation of “Sleepy Hollow’’ to the City of Nelson was explained, much to the amusement of his hearers, by Mr. F. Webb Jones the other evening. He stated that over half a century ago the fire brigade station at Nelson was located side by side Avith an undertaker’s shed. One night the bells clanged out an alarm of fire, at the sound of which the drowsy firemen repaired to the shed to secure the engine. They pulled back the bolts of the shed, darkness at the moment reigning supreme, and hitched themselves to the vehicle, trotting along to the scene of the conflagration to the tolling of the bell. On arrival there the glare of the burning building disclosed the fact that the sleepy firemen had in mistake pulled along a hearse instead of the engine. Hence the appellation of “Slcepv Hollow.”