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Galveston Daily News, Feb. 18, 1886.
Times were tough in Temple: Federal economic policies crippled commerce and prompted business failures. Additionally, natural disasters destroyed crops and forced farm mortgage foreclosures. The country slumped into an economic depression that paralleled the 1930s. Temple leaders were forced to raise taxes as they skimped on services. Adding to the voters’ unrest were the decisions of an unpopular second-term president.
Despite these difficult circumstances, Temple citizens were still optimistic about their town’s future and welcomed the record spending for improvements to its fire service.
Sound like a 2008 scenario?
Actually, the year was 1895, the out-of-favor president was Grover Cleveland, and Temple citizens agreed to spend more than $10,000 to upgrade their fire department for the coming 20th century. Founded in 1883, the Temple Fire Department was barely a dozen years old at the time.
Now, as the Temple Fire Department celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, the city is looking for bond projects to upgrade state-of-the-art fire and rescue services.
Included in this $7.1 million “birthday present” are a new fire station and administration building that would nearly double the present headquarters; upgrades and replacements of fire engines; and a station in the city’s northwest quadrant. The city and the Fire Department will officially celebrate the milestone in October during Fire Safety Month, but the May 10 bond issue is the current focus.
The bond issue is expected to be a necessary, vital boost to begin the 21st century, just as the 1895 expenditure proved to be a boon at the advent of the 20th century.
At the close of the 19th century, Temple moved from a ragtag confederacy of volunteers with buckets to a paid force and state-of-the-art equipment for the times because citizens understood its importance and ventured forward despite the financial risks.
Temple Fire Chief Lonzo Wallace believes that the community can learn much from those early days. When he reads about the department’s early years, “It’s eye opening,” he said. “The Temple fire service has had such an interesting history. The more we learn about our past, the better off we are. What they did back then laid the foundation for us now. It makes us better.” He hopes that history will repeat itself.
To be sure, the Temple Fire Department’s beginnings were wobbly. Galveston volunteer fireman Tom Dirmeyer came to the fledgling railroad town soon after its founding in 1881. What he saw was a gaggle of wooden buildings dotting a treeless, dusty downtown. That first department was a loose brotherhood bonded by buckets, blazes and beer. All professions were represented - teachers, bankers, merchants, lawyers and saloonkeepers. The latter were important because the fire department functioned mostly as social clubs, where members met frequently for libations and levity to build necessary esprit de corps.
Chief Wallace views those practices as typical for its time. “Up in the northeast (United States), some of the older fire companies had a tradition of drinking on the job, and that tradition lasted up until not too long ago,” he said. Drinking on the job is absolutely not allowed now, he stressed.
Whiskey notwithstanding, newly incorporated Temple, with steep financial woes, had no money to support this critical service. The main firefighting equipment consisted of buckets hanging at the ready for the first shout of “fire.” The department also had a wagon loaded with ladders and two hose reels. The city, however, did not furnish horses. The wagon was pulled by the firefighters themselves, which proved nearly impossible when heavy rains turned the streets into sticky mud.
Braving the infernos and weather, the volunteers furnished all other equipment and often left their work to battle blazes. “Because the department received no city money, the firemen spent as much time raising money as they did fighting fire,” wrote Scott Tippen, a Temple firefighter who researched the department’s history in 1999.
By June 1883, a hearty league of volunteer firemen had transformed themselves from an unstructured bucket brigade to a more polished department with officers and organization, including Charles W. Littlepage as fire chief and three companies. That month the department made its first official presence known at the State Firemen’s Association meeting in Waco, where Littlepage and his associates were hailed as the “handsomest in Texas.” On June 29, the firemen also held their first firemen’s ball, ostensibly a fundraiser to buy more buckets and ladders. In 1888, the department added the Juvenile Hose Company No. 2, consisting of an energetic crew of boys under 21 years old.
The volunteer fire companies acted independently and, sometimes, were at odds with each other and the city’s leadership. However, two devastating fires in the early 1890s forced city leaders to reconsider fire services. The city upgraded man-pulled wagons to more efficient horse-drawn, upgraded hydrants and paid $500 for new hoses. Firefighters introduced new equipment, some of which failed at critical times.
By 1893, the city took full control of the motley department and appointed fire chiefs. Banker Pinckney Lovick Downs, who is credited with stabilizing and infusing firefighters with a re-energized sense of purpose, was the first chief under the new system. Some firefighters received partial pay for their services, and the city paid and housed two wagon drivers, who also cared for the horses. By 1895, the city commission voted to spend more than $10,000 in upgrades, including new firefighting gear, alarm system and a comfortable two-story brick station at 206 W. Avenue A. These improvements meant Temple property owners benefited from lower fire insurance rates and faster responses.
Even the Dallas Morning News took notice of enterprising Temple on June 28, 1895, noting that the city had “two valuable lots in business portion of the city for central station and $10,000 in bonds now on the market for building brick firehouse on same; two wagons with teams and paid drivers, best volunteer auxiliary department in state, chemical engine and surplus hand reels, second-class town in insurance rates.”
By 1916, the city put the fire horses out to pasture and adopted a motorized fleet, including a chemical engine/pumper and hook-and-ladder truck. That same year, the department adopted a fire bell system, retiring the 650-pound bell, which had summoned firefighters to service since 1893. The bell is now mounted outside the present Central Fire Station.
George Hoherd was the longest-serving fire chief in that early era, serving 20 years. He led the Fire Department through its transition to a modern professional force.
In 1971, the city installed an emergency hotline, a forerunner of the present 911 system. In 1973, the department began ambulance service and established advanced life support services. Emergency medical technicians and paramedics were added in 1981.
A century after it was founded, the Temple Fire Department, respected around the state, had evolved with the city it served.