Fire can be devastating today and deserves people's utmost care and respect, but it was much more dangerous in the early 1900s. Then the City had no organized fire department, and no water mains or fire trucks to fight it with. A single fire could easily destroy the entire downtown area.
R. Henry Fuller, who owned a furniture store on the north side of the square, is said to have organized a bucket brigade to fight fires before the City of Mt. Pleasant had a water works system. When someone spotted a fire, they would begin shooting guns in the air. Hearing gunfire, firemen would assemble at the fire station, which was located on the northeast corner of what is now West Third and Madison Streets, and proceed to the fire. Once there, water had to be drawn from wells and passed along a line of men to be thrown on the fire. Needless to say, there wasn't much hope of saving a structure, but sometimes they could keep the fire from spreading to other structures. Later a large bell was located at the fire station and would be rung to sound the fire alarm, and cotton gins and other establishments that had steam whistles would blow them in a certain way to sound a fire alarm.
The Morris Department Store on the southwest corner of Third and Jefferson Streets burned in 1900, followed in the same year by Mount Pleasant's worst fire which destroyed eleven businesses on the east side of Jefferson Street between Second and Third Streets. Some of the merchants were financially ruined because they had no insurance.
Because fire was such a devastating threat and could not be adequately fought if it got out of control, the Mt. Pleasant City Council met in called session on February 18, 1902 and passed a single ordinance establishing City Fire Limits to better prevent fires. The Fire Limits Ordinance read as follows:
"Be it ordained by the City Council of the city of Mt. Pleasant, Texas that the territory enclosed within the following meets and bounds, are hereby declared to be the fire limits of the city of Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and it shall be unlawful for any person, persons, or association of persons, corporation or company to erect, within the said hereinafter described limits, any wooden building or structure without the written permit of the City Council, of said city of Mt. Pleasant, Texas.
Said territory is described as follows, to wit:
Beginning at a point 525 feet due north from the center of the Court House in the City of Mt. Pleasant, Texas.
Thence west 425 ft, a stake; thence south 1590 feet, a stake; thence east to the W.B. line of the right of way of the St. Louis, Southwestern Railway. Co. of Texas; thence north with the W.B. line of said right of way of said Railway. Co., to a point due east of the place of beginning, a stake; thence west to the place of beginning.
If any person shall without the permission of the City Council of the city of Mount Pleasant, Texas, in writing given, erect any wooden building or structure within the said above described fire limit, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon a conviction there of in the corporation court of said city, he shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than two hundred dollars.
The said written permission shall be valid only when the same is signed by the mayor of said city, by direction of said city council. It is further ordered that this resolution and ordinance be in effect from and after its passage."
The City Council enlarged the above ordinance's scope on October 7, 1902 to further prohibit moving any wooden building into the designated fire limits.
The City began installing its waterworks system in 1903, and one of its priorities was installing fire hydrants. The City was extremely short on money due to the massive expense of building a lake, standpipe (water tower), and laying water mains. Businesses also considered fire protection a high priority. On July 20, 1930 the Shipper's Compress and Warehouse Company, who was building a new compress in the city, offered to loan the City the immediate expenses of extending a six-inch water main to their compress from the eight-inch main that the City was laying along Pillsbury Street and installing one fire hydrant at the compress. The City accepted the proposal.
The City Council purchased 600' of 2-1/2" fire hose at 80 cents per foot ($18.00 per foot in 2006 dollars) from the Manhattan Rubber Manufacturing Company on September 7, 1903, possibly with the intention of forming a fire department in the future.
The City Council authorized formation of the Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Company in their January 6, 1904 meeting and authorized it to "consist of not more than twenty (20) male persons, who shall hold their positions for a term of two years until their successors shall have qualified". Sixteen Mt. Pleasant Volunteer Fire Company charter members were named in City Council minutes as follows: W. T. Anderson, T. M. Binnion, Warren Blankenship, Hollis Blythe, Odric Clement, R. H. Fuller, Sid Hanes, Will Hanes, Bud Hinson, Young Holcomb, W. A. Johnson, W. S. Julian, C. O. Lide, G. A. Mount, Alf Naramore, and M. J. Wallace.
The Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department elected its own Chief from the members with the City Council's approval, and the City Council paid the Chief a small salary for his services.
The Volunteer Fire Department's first recorded meeting was February 5, 1904 in the Commercial Club Room (the Commercial Club was the forerunner of the Chamber of Commerce) with all 20 charter members present. Will Hanes was listed as Chief and W. C. Julian as Assistant Chief. The new volunteer fire company chose the motto "When duty calls, 'tis ours to obey," which is still the department motto today. Mr. Gilbert A. Mount, the last surviving charter member, died February 26, 1965 and is buried in Masonic Cemetery. J. P. Wilson became Mount Pleasant's first Fire Marshal in 1904.
The City provided the new department with hoses and other equipment they needed to work with. Shortly after the Fire Department was organized, 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.
In their March 8, 1905 meeting, the Mt. Pleasant City Council named members of the Fire Department and agreed to refund their 1904 City Poll Tax. Minutes of the meeting read as follows:
"It was ordered by the council that the following persons shall constitute the voluntary fire company of Mt. Pleasant:
R. H. Fuller, Will Hanes, Sid Hanes, Gilbert Mount, Bud Hinson, Maurice Walton, M. J. Wallace, Tom Anderson, W. A. Johnson, Odric Clement, C. O. Lide, Young Holcomb, T. C. Lamar, Alf Narramore, Hollis Blythe, Warnen Blankenship, and that R. H. Fuller is hereby appointed Captain of said fire company, with full authority to take charge of all the fire fighting apparatus of the city, to call out the fire company whenever needed, and to perform all other duties which he thinks necessary in connection with the fire department of the City of Mt. Pleasant.
It was ordered by the Council that Tax Collector Geo. L. Keith be and he is hereby instructed to furnish to the City Secretary a list of all members of the fire company named above who have paid their city poll tax for the year 1904, who were members of said fire company prior to January 1st 1905, and the said City Secretary is hereby instructed to issue to such persons a warrant on the City Treasurer of Mt. Pleasant, Texas for the amount of such poll tax so paid, in order that their money may be refunded to them."
In the early days of the new water system, it appears that running water was a precious and valuable commodity. Apparently the City found it necessary to lock fire hydrants to keep people from opening them and using water without paying for it. In their September 20, 1906 meeting, the City Council made the Fire Chief or Captain the "keeper of the keys." An ordinance was passed that read:
"Sec. 1 -- Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Mt Pleasant, Texas that the Captain or Chief of the Volunteer Fire Company of the City of Mt. Pleasant shall be, and he is hereby appointed and made the custodian of all the keys to the fire hydrants of the City of Mt. Pleasant, and it is hereby made his duty to take immediate possession of all of said keys and put them in some secure place, not accessible to the public, and the said Captain or Chief shall not permit any person to have possession of any of said keys, except in case of fire, when the same is to be used for the purpose of turning on the water to extinguish fire."
The Mt. Pleasant Fire Department gained some real "horse power" in 1910. In its January 18, 1910 meeting, the City Council appointed Dan J. Stith as Fire Chief and authorized a committee consisting of Aldermen J. A. Black and M. C. Rogers to spend up to $200.00 to purchase a horse for the fire department (approx $4,325 in 2006 dollars). The purchase was made, and apparently the Council realized how much risk the horse would be in, because they took out a $100 (approx $2,000 in 2006 dollars) life insurance policy on it from C. L. Duncan, agent for the Indiana and Ohio Live Stock Insurance Co., on February 3, 1910.
