Rockport Volunteer Fire Department
Rockport, Aransas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
As Rockport grew as a center of commerce and a tourism destination in the 1880s, businessman Sam Smith, who owned several homes and businesses, donated the city’s first firefighting equipment. The unit cost about $1400 and consisted of a horse-drawn wagon with chemical tanks. With W. S. Doughty the first to drive the wagon to a fire and Fred Hoopes named as the first fire chief, the Rockport Volunteer Fire Department organized in 1885. In 1913, a Model T Ford was purchased for $300, remaining in use even after larger trucks were acquired. Interest in the Volunteer Fire Department waned in the 1920s but was revived in June 1938, following a nighttime blaze which consumed the Natalie Apartment House (the Old Grewe Place). A fortunate change in wind direction and the help of the Aransas Pass Fire Department helped minimize damage to surrounding properties. In response, the following week Dr. Albert Collier organized the Aransas County Emergency Corps (ACEC), whose first unit was the Rockport Volunteer Fire Department with Collier as Fire Chief. The mission of the ACEC was to provide fire protection, patrol the beaches, and run an ambulance service. Within six months, a city bond election passed, water mains were installed and the city purchased a 600-gallon-per-minute pumper. The first permanent fire station was completed on St. Mary’s street in July 1939. Hurricane Celia damaged that facility in 1970, and a new main station was built on Concho Street in 1972. Satellite stations have been built as the city has grown, beginning with a site on Henderson Street in 1983. While the department has received city and county funding plus donations and grants for equipment, volunteers, some representing multiple generations, remain the heart of the department trained to save lives and property.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As Rockport grew into a commerce and tourism center in the 1880s, businessman Sam Smith donated its first firefighting equipment—a horse-drawn wagon with chemical tanks—and volunteers organized the department in 1885. A Model T joined the ranks in 1913, and after a 1938 blaze the effort was revived under the new Aransas County Emergency Corps, which added beach patrols and ambulance service. Bond money soon paid for water mains and a pumper, and a permanent station opened in 1939.
Why it matters
The story captures how volunteer civic institutions—not just governments—built the everyday safety and infrastructure of small-town America.
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Related people
- · Sam Smith
- · Albert Collier
Themes & tags
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