A thumb-nail history of the city of Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1836 to the year 1912 Page: 57
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THE CITY OF HOUSTON, TEXAS 57
ganized in Texas. Houston at that time was only
an aggregation of tents and log shanties, so there
was no great danger of big conflagrations, and
fighting fire was not the serious thing it became
after more pretentious buildings were erected. Still
there was danger and the company was organized
to meet that danger. For the first fourteen or fifteen
years of its existence the method and appliances
for fighting fire were extremely crude, consisting
only of the formation of a line of men and
the passing of buckets filled wjta_ The company
was merely a bucket brigade, but it did good
work. About 1850 the company purchased its first
engine, which was a hand engine, worked by beams
on each side. This old engine was used for many
years and figured prominently at all the early fires,
including the two or three great ones that occurred
in the late fifties. It is regretted that the names of
these early Houston firemen have not been preserved.
Protection No. 1 was Houston's only fire company
from 1886 until 1858, when the city having
grown and a great fire having occurred in 1858 it
became evident that better protection against fire
was an imperative necessity. Hook and Ladder
Company No,. as organized in 1858 and two
years later, in 1860, Liberty No. 2 was organized
Then the great war came on and it was not until
between 1866 and 1870 that further additions to the
department were made. During the latter part of
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Young, Samuel Oliver. A thumb-nail history of the city of Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1836 to the year 1912, book, 1912; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24649/m1/66/?rotate=180: accessed April 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.