Caldwell Volunteer Fire Department
Caldwell, Burleson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Caldwell's volunteer fire department was organized as the Caldwell Hook & Ladder Co. No.1 on July 22, 1886, five years before the city of Caldwell was incorporated. The original 22 members of the association obtained their first pieces of equipment--a four-wheel truck (pulled by manpower) complete with extension ladders, axes, and leather buckets for holding water-through membership dues and donations from citizens. Reorganization as the Caldwell Fire Company took place in 1907, providing for election of officers and directors and limiting membership to 40 persons. Membership over the years has averaged 20 to 25. After its incorporation in 1891, the city of Caldwell gradually took over supervision of the fire company, giving its first $250 for the purchase of a new fire truck in 1916. The volunteer fire department has historically answered calls for assistance both inside the city limits and in the neighboring rural areas. Throughout its history, the Caldwell Volunteer Fire Department has been a community service-oriented organization, sponsoring circuses, maifests, first aid classes and safety programs, and maintaining Fireman's Park from 1889 to 1910. The company's 1937 fire truck was restored as a city preservation project, Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Caldwell's volunteers banded together in 1886 as Hook & Ladder Co. No. 1 — five years before the town was even incorporated — buying their first hand-pulled truck, ladders, axes, and leather buckets through dues and citizen donations. Reorganized in 1907 and gradually supported by the young city, the department answered fires in town and countryside alike. It also stitched itself into community life, hosting circuses, maifests, and safety classes and tending Fireman's Park.
Why it matters
Volunteer fire companies were among the first civic institutions frontier towns built for themselves, binding neighbors together in mutual protection well before formal municipal government existed.
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Themes & tags
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