The Fire Department moved into the motorized age when the City Council purchased its first fire truck from the American LaFrance Fire Engine Company, Inc. on October 26, 1915.  The truck was a 40 horsepower 1915 Brockway[1] Type B Combination Chemical and Hose Car.  The City paid $3,250 (approx $63,000 in 2006 dollars) for the truck in four annual installments of $812.50.

The Brockway, like many trucks of the period, was propelled by a chain that connected the transmission to the back axle -- somewhat like a motorcycle (although the chain was much larger).  Photo FD-0002 is too small to show much detail, but you can see the chain sloping down in front of the rear axle if you look carefully.  American LaFrance, once the "Cadillac" of fire engines, used a similar chain drive.  The Brockway simply carried a few firemen and the hose to a fire, since it did not have a water tank or pump to fight the fire.  Water was applied to the fire directly from the hydrant, using only whatever pressure was available from city mains in the area.  The truck could not further pressurize the water to reach suitable firefighting pressure if main pressure was low.

The Council accepted the Brockway at their November 10, 1915 meeting.  To commemorate the event, the City paid W.B. Praytor, a local photographer, $0.50 to photograph the new fire truck.  We think Photo FD-0001 was probably taken on the west side of the Mt. Pleasant city square shortly after the truck was purchased.  Photo FD-0002 shows the Titus County Court House in the background.  In that photo, the driver is Alderman S.W. Weber.  Others in the picture are Mayor J.F. Wilkinson, Alderman Dr. W.J. Delafield, Alderman Henry A. Wilson, Alderman M.C. (Bud) Rogers and Alderman R.G. (Dick) Badt.

The Council hired Louie Moore as fireman to drive the truck at a salary of $50.00 per month (approx $975 in 2006 dollars).  According to City Council minutes, his duties were to have charge of the City's fire station and fire truck and to obey the orders of the City's Mayor and Aldermen.  At the same meeting, the Council instructed the Mayor to dispose of the City's fire horses to the City's best interest.

According to popular City lore, the Brockway was delivered in a "plain vanilla" condition and the City or the Volunteer Fire Department had it outfitted with "brass headlights and a decorative paint job which included the wooden wheel spokes" after it arrived.  Due to lack of records, we were unable to document this.  If this was the case, the Volunteer Fire Department must have paid for the work, as City Council minutes don't show any expense payments for work on the new truck, but list very minor expenses of including the payment to W. B. Praytor for 50 cents on November 8, 1915 to photograph the new truck.

The Fire Department suffered a major setback on June 28, 1925 when the 1915 Brockway was severely damaged while unloading hose at a fire that simultaneously involved three houses.  Rev. Ad Rogers' house caught fire first and the entire roof was ablaze before neighbors noticed it.  It was very close to P.H. Rogers' home, and wind blew the fire onto P.H. Rogers' roof very quickly.  Both houses burned to the ground before anything could be done. The Tyler Redfearn home's roof caught fire, but firemen extinguished it with only slight damage to the roof.  Driver Carl Huckeba struck a sand bed that caused the truck to veer to one side and strike a tree while driving the truck rather fast on Mt. Pleasant's unpaved streets to unreel the hose.  The City was able to repair the Brockway, but it was never as serviceable as before the accident.  The Brockway was the City's only fire truck, so a Ford truck was rapidly equipped to carry the hose and chemicals until another fire truck could be obtained.

The 1915 Brockway served the City until 1936, a total of 21 years and 3 months.  The City later added a 1926 Seagrave pumper and a 1936 Ford/Boyer pumper to their fleet.  The City Council decided to scrap the Brockway on November 18, 1936 after purchasing the 1936 Ford/Boyer pumper.

[1] Brockway Trucks:  William N. Brockway founded Brockway Carriage Works in Homer, New York and incorporated in 1875.  Brockway's beginning is widely recognized as the 1912 incorporation of the Brockway Motor Truck Company of Cortland, New York.  Brockway, though never mass-produced, specialized in building quality trucks from 1912 to its end in May, 1977, and became known as the "most rugged truck in the world."  Brockway family members held all of the company's stock until Mack Trucks bought Brockway in 1956.  Mack continued to make trucks under the Brockway brand until production ceased in 1977 as the result of a labor strike in the Brockway plant.  After an attempted sale of Brockway fell through, a Mack spokesman announced that Brockway would be liquidated.

The City had grown considerably since the 1936 Ford was purchased, and after the 1950 Ford was destroyed in a traffic accident, the City did not have adequate engines to fight fires in the town's current structures.

On May 3, 1960, the City of Mt. Pleasant accepted bids for two new 750 gallon per minute pumpers.  Mack Trucks, Inc. of Allentown, Pennsylvania won with a bid of $40,950 for two trucks ($20,475.00 each, or approx $136,800 in 2006 dollars).  The trucks were built per specifications and Mt. Pleasant firemen picked up the new engines in Allentown in December, 1960 and drove them back to Texas.  The City paid $566.24 in expenses on January 3, 1961 for the firemen to pick up and return the engines.

The identical engines were designated Engine 3 and Engine 4.  Probably influenced by the accident involving the 1950 Ford pumper, the City Council passed a motion to use the new fire trucks for fires inside the City only, except to answer calls for help in neighboring towns.

The purchase of the new engines presented a problem.  The fire station facing North Madison no longer large enough to house all of the equipment, and personnel space was also crowded.  The Mt. Pleasant City Council unanimously agreed on August 16, 1960 to purchase land at 402 N. Washington from the First National Bank to build a new and larger fire station.  Bonds were issued for $75,000 (approx $500,000 in 2006 dollars) and construction on the new station began.

FD-0026 shows the new Engines 3 and 4 in front of the second fire station facing North Madison Street shortly after delivery.  Standing between the engines are (left to right): Fireman Tom B. Coker, Fireman Wayne Swatsell, City Manager A.E. Taylor, Fireman Rex Mars, Fireman Bill Preddy

FD-0003 above shows a side view of Engine 4.

The deep red engines were later painted white to match the City's American LaFrance Engine 5, and continued in service until ______.  The two 1960 Macks were sold at City auction on _______.

On March 2, 1968, the City Council unanimously authorized the City Manager to advertise for bids for a new fire truck.  Bids were received on April 30, 1968, with only two companies entering proposals.  Mack Trucks bid $31,478 and American LaFrance bid $31,560.  After consultation by a committee with representatives of the two bidders individually concerning minor changes that the city desired, the two companies entered new bids.  Mack Trucks bid $33,229.16 and American LaFrance bid $32,500 (approx $190,000 in 2006 dollars).  The Council voted unanimously to buy the American LaFrance.

During this time, red fire trucks were falling out of favor due to people hitting the trucks while they were parked at fire scenes.  Some safety experts felt red did not show well at night, and that other colors might reduce accidents.  Fire departments across the nation were experimenting with painting trucks white or yellow to make them more visible and hopefully prevent motorists from hitting them.  On March 4, 1969, before the new engine was delivered, the City Council authorized the City Manager to have LaFrance paint the engine white instead of red.

Chief Rex Mars flew to the American LaFrance factory in Elmira, New York, took delivery of the engine, and drove it back to Mt. Pleasant.  The new American LaFrance was capable of pumping 1250 gallons of water per minute and could draft from both the front and side.  It was designated Engine 5 and added to the fleet.  It was the first white fire engine that the city owned, and the 1960 Mack Engines 4 and 5 were soon painted white to match it.  The LaFrance was also the first diesel engine purchased.  Engine 5 remained in service until _____, and was later sold at City auction for $1,500 to someone who only bought it so they could remove the diesel engine to install in a maintainer.

After the Brockway was damaged in an accident, the City began looking for a new truck to replace it.  Two fire truck manufacturers' representatives made presentations for their trucks at the July 7, 1925 City Council meeting.  The Seagrave Company, a fire truck manufacturer, stopped by Mount Pleasant while delivering a new truck to Clarksville on August 11, 1925 to give a working demonstration of their pumper.

On June 1, 1926, the City Council decided to take bids on a new fire truck by advertising in the Dallas News.  Bids were invited until 7 p.m. June 26, 1926 for one Triple Combination Pumper and one Combination Chemical and Hose Truck.  At the June 13, 1926 Council Meeting, representatives of American LaFrance, Boyer, Northern Fire Apparatus Company, Seagrave, and Southern Waterous truck manufacturers each made a fifteen minute presentation before the Council to pitch their vehicles.

After the presentations, the Council went into executive session and decided by a 3 to 2 vote to purchase a Seagraves Triple Combination (Suburbanite Type) Pumper from the Seagrave Corporation, Dallas, Texas.  The Seagrave cost $6,500 (approx $72,500 in 2006 dollars), to be paid in five payments of $1,083.35.

The Seagrave represented a major improvement in City fire protection.  Unlike the Brockway that just hauled hose, the Seagrave included a pump that was capable of pumping 400 gallons of water per minute (GPM) onto a fire.  Previous firefighting ability depended on having good pressure in city water mains, which many times was not the case.  There was no way to boost the water pressure to a fire scene if main pressure was low, and buildings were consequently lost due to low main pressure.  The Seagrave, like all pumpers (also called engines) was equipped with an on-board pump powered by the truck's motor.  If water pressure in the mains was too low, the truck's pump boosted it to a sufficient level to fight the fire.  Higher pressure also allowed the hoses to reach farther at large fires.

Fire Marshall Will Lyle and Alderman John Holland took delivery of the new pumper at Seagrave's Dallas, Texas facility on Friday, August 20, 1926.  They drove it back to Mt. Pleasant along with the Seagrave factory representative, where they took the pumper to Mr. Lyle's garage and cleaned it and made necessary adjustments to prepare it for service.

The next day, the fire department laid 1,600 feet of hose from the man-made lake in Dellwood Park (see photos of the lake on the Dellwood Park topic) up the hill to the two-story W.H. Florey residence on South Lide Avenue.  Texas Highway 49, or East Ferguson Road, had not been built at the time. The Daingerfield Highway then consisted of parts of what are now East Arkansas Street and Choctaw Street.

The Seagrave pumper was parked on the lake's dam and the pumper's capabilities were tested using a 3/4 inch, 1 inch, and 1-1/4 inch straight-bore nozzle.  The Seagrave provided enough pressure and pumped sufficient water volume to shoot a stream considerably above the two story house.  The City and Fire Department were impressed.

Firefighting depends on both water pressure and volume.  A large volume of water doesn't help if there's not enough pressure to spray it several feet onto the fire.  Likewise, high pressure sufficient to hit the fire doesn't help if the mains can't supply a sufficient volume to supply the pump a constant flow.

According to period news articles, the Seagrave was then moved to North Second Street east of the Cotton Belt.  (Mount Pleasant streets were renamed in 1929.)  The pumper was connected to a four-inch water main, but pumped such a volume that it created a vacuum in the main and the test was discontinued.  The City was in the process of enlarging its water system and was aware of possible problems with the water main's ability to supply enough volume for the pump.  The main tested was being upgraded to 8 inch diameter when the story was written, and the problem corrected itself as the entire city's water supply system was upgraded over time.

The City had to build a new concrete drive in front of the truck bays at City Hall after they purchased the Seagrave because the sidewalk was high enough that the rear of the truck scraped against the concrete when it was pulled into the street.

On August 24, 1926, the Council made the first payment of $1,083.35 in cash, and made five more subsequent principal payments of $1,083.35 plus six percent interest each August 24th from 1927 through 1931.

The 1926 Seagrave answered its first alarm on Saturday, September 11, 1926 when it responded to a fire at the R.G. McClinton residence.  The fire was small and was extinguished using water from the Seagrave's tank without connecting the truck to a hydrant.  In addition to Mr. McClinton, the Fire Department was impressed with their new engine's capabilities.

On August 17, 1936, the City purchased a new Ford/Boyer fire truck to replace its original 1915 Brockway and succeed the 1926 Seagraves as a first-out engine.  The city was attracted to the Ford/Boyer because the Seagrave was custom-manufactured and all replacement parts had to come from Seagrave, which made them hard to get and expensive.

Ford Motor Company manufactured the truck chassis, which meant that parts could be obtained locally and for much less.  Boyer Fire Apparatus Company modified the Ford chassis into a fire truck by adding a 500 gallon per minute water pump and custom-making the body.  The truck originally cost $3,450, which the City paid in three equal installments of $1,150 each.

The truck was officially accepted by Mayor E.M. Lide and City Aldermen J.D. Holland, F.W. Stephenson, and Frank Henderson after it was connected to a fire hydrant at the corner of North Jefferson Avenue and West 12th Street and tested.  The City also purchased 1,500 feet of 2-1/2 inch fire hose from the Manhattan Fire Hose Company for $1.25 per foot.  Once the 1936 Ford/Boyer was placed in service, the City scrapped the 1915 Brockway, as described in the newspaper article below.

The 1936 Ford remained in full-time service until the early 1960s, when it was retired from regular use.  It was kept as a backup unit for several years before being removed entirely from active service, and was pressed into service once again when Marshall's Department Store burned in downtown Mt. Pleasant in the early 1970's.  It was stored at the fire station until about 1978, when it was moved outside to make room for other trucks.  Weather exposure quickly deteriorated it until the rear fenders were reduced to rusted hulls.  A few parts came up missing, and the truck was almost past repair.

In 1996, the truck was taken to the City Fleet Shop and restoration of the truck began.  Fleet Services Staff members completed the restoration in early 1998. City employees involved in the restoration were Bobby Reese, Bill Brockman, Perry Ryan, Ronald Duncan and Jim Carroll.

The Mount Pleasant Fire Department still owns the 1936 Ford/Boyer and uses it in parades, fire prevention programs, and on other special occasions.

Before the Mt. Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department was organized in 1904, the city purchased a two wheel hand drawn cart to transport hose to a fire scene.  The cart was constructed so a group of men could simultaneously push and pull the cart to the fire.  According to some, the cart had a hand-operated pump which the firemen could operate to increase water pressure from the mains at the fire.  The hand-drawn cart was used until the City purchased a team of horses and a wagon to haul the hose in 1907.

The hand-pulled hose cart in the photo above is similar to the City's first hose cart.  The photo above was printed in the book Titus County Celebrates 125 Years that was printed during Titus County's 125th Anniversary.

Please note that even though this is the case, we are not sure that the above hose cart is actually the City's original hose cart.  Our uncertainty arises from three points of analysis.  First, steel-spoked wheels were very uncommon, if in fact they existed, in 1904 (notice the wheels on the wagon in the photo below that replaced the hand-drawn cart).  The mass-produced Ford Model T and all other vheicles of the day had wood-spoked wheels.  If the technolgoy was available, surely automobiles which were designed to run much faster and were designed for higher stress, would have been equipped with steel-spoked wheels.  Ford did not produce steel spokes until the 1929 Model A.

Our second question arises because some early descriptions of the original cart say it had a hand pump on it.  The cart above does not have a pump, and is not designed so one could have once been installed and operated.  That would have required 4 wheels for stability during operation.

Our third uncertainty is that this cart appears to be one of several that was at the Mt. Pleasant refinery, which was not constructed until late 1936 into 1937.  We think, but do not know for sure, that this cart is one of several all-steel industrial firefighting hose carts that were bought for the refinery's firefighting brigade when the refinery was built.  The carts were designed to be hand-pulled between units where vehicles could not go.

On January 18, 1910, the Mt. Pleasant City Council appointed Dan Stith as Fire Chief, and in the same meeting appointed Aldermen J. A. Black and M. C. Rogers as a committee to purchase a horse for fire department to pull a wagon to haul the fire hose.  The Aldermen were authorized to spend up to $200 for the horse (approx $4,325 in 2006 dollars).   Apparently the Council realized that the horse might be in danger, because on February 3, 1910, they authorized the City Secretary to purchase a $100 (approx $2,000 in 2006 dollars) life insurance policy on the horse from C. L. Duncan, agent for the Indiana and Ohio Live Stock Insurance Co.  The policy cost $6.00.

Jesse Reid drove the fire wagon, and according to R. L. Jurney, Frank May also drove it.  There is a question as to the spelling of Reid's last name.  R. L. Jurney spelled it "Reed", but the City Council minutes of September 3, 1912 spelled it "Reid."  Apparently the old buggy had quite a bit of "horse power", because in the minutes of the September 3, 1912 City Council meeting the Council noted "The Secretary was instructed to notify Jesse Reid, City Fireman that the unnecessary running of the City horses must cease."  At the time, Reid was 18 years old and May was 19.

When the motor-driven 1915 Brockway fire truck replaced the horse-drawn wagon for fire service, the horse-drawn wagon was converted into a street sweeper and used for several more years in that capacity.

The City of Mt. Pleasant added a Ford/Boardman pumper to the fleet in 1950.  We are still researching this vehicle.

As sometimes happens, the 1950 Ford was totaled in a traffic accident while responding to a fire.  Fireman Rex Mars, accompanied by his son Shelly, was enroute to a fire in the area of Highway 49 and was driving the pumper east-bound on Ferguson Road.  The pumper was struck by a vehicle as it crossed the intersection of South Jefferson and Highway 49 and rolled over following the collision.  Luckily no one was seriously injured.

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