Madison County, Indiana - Chapter 43, 1897

Anderson Kire Department

Prior to tlie year 1S(3',(, ^Vnder.son ^vas without any organized fire department. About the year 1870, Hon. Charles T. Doxey and Mr. John P. Barne.s who were members of the city council advocated the purchasing of u fire engine. Their efforts resulted in obtaining a Silsbv engine at a cost of seven thousand dollars. At that time there were no public wells or cisterns within the city limits by means of which the engine could be tested, and it was therefore taken to the river bank in the rear of where Pierse's saw mill now stands. It was here fired up, and at once it displayed its ability to cope with fire in magnificent shape.

A laughable occurrence took place in which Mr. Barnes \\ :i!- the object of a good deal of merry-making. Two horses were iiitched to the engine, and Mr. Barnes assumed thechieftancy by mounting upon the seat by the side of the driver. The horses were sent at full gallop down North Main street, and when in front of the present residence of Charles T. Doxey, tlie front wheel struck a stone in the street, and Mr. Harnes was thrown into the front yard. The horses were going at such speed that no attempt was made to stop them until they reached their destination at the river, and Mr. Barnes came a few minutes later on at a tlead run to again assume his command of the embryo fire department.

After this test had been made it dawned upon the citizens and taxpayers tliata large outlay of money would be necessary to supply the city with cisterns, horses, and other paraphernalia for putting tlie steamer in use. Inconsequence of this state of afTairs an injimction was applied for in the Circuit Court, and the City Council was restrained from purchasing or paying for the engine out of the city funds. The machine was run into a building owned by Wagner & Fisher on West Plight street, which is now occupied by the Daily Bulletin. Here it remained locked up under the order of the Court until a final decision was made in the matter. The case was tinali)- taken to the Henry County Circuit Court, and tried at Newcastle on a change of venue when the Court decided against the purchase of the engine, and thus ended Anderson's first attempt to establish a fire department.

The next adventure in this line was in the year 1876 when the Hon. James Hazlett was mayor, and H. H. Conrad a leading member of the City Council, who both favored the organization of a fire department. After much agitation, a committee consisting of all the members of the council and the mayor was appointed for the purpose of purchasing a tire engine. This committee purchased at a cost of si.K hundred dollars a small hand engine which did service for quite a while in connection with a hook and ladder apparatus.

The first fire to occur after the purchase of the hand engine was at the residence of the Hon. Howell D. Thompson on North Meridian street. When the engine had been hauled to the place of the fire, it was discovered that there was no cistern handy, and the hose was, therefore, attached to a well, and in this condition it was unable to cope with the flames and the residence was almost totally destroyed.

The Citv Council erected a shed on the first alley east of the public stjuare on East Eighth street where the fire apparatus was kept under the protection of William Black at a cost of twenty-five dollars per year.

The little hand engine later on redeemed itself to a certain extent bv at one time saving the east side of the public square where a fire broke out in the cellar-way under the (Jruenewald block.

During the construction of the Anderson water works in 1886, the organization of a volunteer fire department was again agitated by a number of persons petitioning the City Council to that effect. Fifty-seven names were secured. A meeting was called and a committee was appointed, prominent among whom were C. K. McCullough and Mr. Bart Proud. After a thorough canvass of the citj-, another meeting was called on the 18th day of August, 188(3, in the mayor's office at the corner of Main and Eighth streets at which time the following named gentlemen enrolled themselves as volunteers: Amos Coburn, C. K. McCullough, Bart Proud, S. A. Towell, Jesse Talmage, John Ewing. Charles Alford, Charles

At this meeting rules, regulations and by-laws governing the department were provided and adopted, and the organization w^as accomplished by the election of Amos Coburn as chief; C. K. McCullough, assistant ; S. A. Towell, secretary; Bart Proud, captain Hose Company No. I : and Jesse Talmage, captain of Hose Company Xo. l'. John Ewing was elected captain of the Hook and Ladder Companj-.

The equipment at that time consisted of two hand reels, hook and ladder truck and one thousand feet of hose in addition to the hand-engine. Rooms for the headquarters were secured in the basement of the court house. Regular meetings of the department were held on the first Friday evening of each month. Demands were made on the city council for more and better equipment, and soon the fire "laddies" were furnished rubber coats, hats, boots, etc.

The first fire to occur after the organization of this department took place at the residence of Dr. \^'illiam .\. Hunt on South Jackson street, in December, 188(3. The weather was intensely cold, the thermometer marking 17 degrees below zero, and there was at that time also a heavy coat of snow upon the ground. When the signal of fire was given, not only the department responded, but nearly the whole population was on hand to witness the first fight made by the volunteers, and to see the new water works, which luul just been completed, tested.

Many mistakes were made, the most serious of which was in attaching the hose to a hydrant some distance from the fire and the man at the hydrant turning the water on in full force before the hose had been unwound, which caused them to burst and a dL-liiije of water was poured out upon the streets, causing tlie hose to whip around like a monster serpent in the street, tiirowing the water in every direction and drenching tiie people on the sidewalks, as well as the members of the department. As soon as the mistake could be remedied an attachment was made to another hvdrant and the fire was soon under control, and a portion of the Hunt residence and the building owned by Richard Lake, adjoining, were saved. While .some were ready to criticize the department, the general feeling was that the boys did valiant service, and their mistakes were soon forgotten and forgiven.

The citizens took great interest in the fire department and a banquet was given to the members thereof, which gave them great encouragement, and the department started out anew in great spirits. The city council soon realizeii that the department must be provided with better ecjuipments, and they were accordingly furnished with better hose and other appliances and were allowed two dollars each for every fire they attended. In the spring of 1SJ<7 Chief Coburn resigned and Samuel .\. Towell. was chosen in his place. In 1888 two horses were purchased and Edward Wilcox was placed on regular pay as driver.

In 1880 three additional men. Charles Alford. Charles Perrett and Philip Hollingsworth. were put on pay at forty dollars per month, and the chief's salary was made one hundred dollars per annum. The old reels were now converted into a one-horse reel, and two horses were purciiasetl for the department. Prior to this time the liverymen of the city furnished the horses to pull the hose wagons.

In the vear 1890 the (jamewell fire system was introduced, and the handsome Ituilding was erected which the city now occupies at the corner of Eighth and Central a\enue. A modern hose wagon was added to the department which had nio\ed into new he.iilquaiters at the city building. Two additional men were added to the force, and the pay of the members \vas fixed at $45 per month, and the salary of the chief was also advanced.

In 1890, the department was, on motion of John L. Forkner. councilman from the Second ward, converted into a full paid department with thirteen members. Station Xo. 2 was established, and a building erected at the corner of Seventeenth street and Madison avenue.

thai) tliat enjoyed by the Andeisoii force. The only death that has occurred .since the organization of the department was tiiat of Samuel Taylor.

Sam" and "Bob'" were the pioneer tire horses, and nobler ones never ran under harness in answer to an alarm. Thev were scarcely looked upon by the l)ovs as dumb brutes, but as members of the department.

-- Bob "' took what is known by horsemen as " big head," and, after a long siege of suffering, taken ofl" duty, and cared for until he could eat his food no longer, when he was killed.

Samuel A. Towell for many years did valiant service as chief of the department, and was universally liked by the organization as well as the citizens at large, and being offered a better salar\', he became superintendent of the water works, and Charles Alford was selected in his place.

Among the most enthusiastic members of the city council who have taken great interest in the department, we mention John McMillan, John F. McClure, Fred Gedge, and H. C. Ryan.

The Anderson fire department has saved millions of dollars worth of propert}' since its organization. At one time the department came near disbanding, owing to the supposed non-appreciation of their services by the public. A meeting was called for the purpose of disbanding the organization, when j. J. Netterxille, J. L. Kilgore and others, made an appeal to the boys to desist from carrying out their ititentions. They spoke of the many deeds of heroic valor they had performed, and begged ihem not to disband. From this appeal the boys took fresh courage, and have, since that time, always done their duty as a noble and heroic band.

Early in I SS.") Anderson agitated the (|uestion of water works. The city had no fire protection whatever, and a number of large fires put the people to thinking, and water works was decided on. An appropriation of !fi20,()0U was set aside for a start. .V board of trustees were elected consisting of Lafe J. Burr. T. M. Norton and II. J. Bronnenberg. With the exception of Mr. Bronnenberg the same men have been retained up to the present time. Mr. Bronnenherg, on account of an accident which befel! him August 22, 1888, forced him to give up the work he was faithfully performing, and Mr. Harrison Canaday was elected to take his place, and has ever since been retained. Work was commenced, buildings were erected, and pumping machinery bought with great care, with a view of serving the city the next twenty or twentyfive years. Tile capacity was two million gallons daily, or two pumps of one million gallons each. Tiiey arrived from Hamilton, Ohio, over the Pan Handle, and hundreds viewed them on the flat cars while they stood on the side tracks. They were put in place in the new building, which was just large enough to give room to walk around them after thev were put into position, as it was supposed that that was about all that would ever be needed. About live miles of mains were laid and forty-five hydrants set.

The work was completetl and the pumps started in July, 1886, and everjthing went smoothly until natural gas was discovered, \yiien trouble set in. The town grew like magic, miles of mains were demanded, and \\ here one ot the two pumps liad done work, both were now required, and put to their full capacity. The trustees were confronted with the fact that the two million plant was no longer able to keep pace with the growth of the city. Something must be done and that at once. Meetings of the board and city council were held, and the result was that an appropriation of sixty-five thousand dollars was made in the spring of 1892, for enlarging the system.

It was just the same, or really more than putting in a system from the start, as much of the old mains had to be replaced with larger ones; entire new buildings had to be erected, and larger machinery and boilers bought.

Work was commenced in August. 1892. Miles of large mains were laid ranging from 12 to 20 inches ; during the construction of the buildings Doxey's Music Hall which had been rebuilt, burned the second tinae. Six streams were turned on the fire. The line to the little pumps was thrown wide open. They responded like things of life ; they made the greatest effort of their existence for six long hours, but the duty was far beyond their power to furnish pressure to the streams, and the Music Ilall was destroyed the second time.

Anderson now has one of the be«t water works plants in tl.o State for its si/.e. capable of fiirnishinfj eight million gallons daily through nineteen miles of mains, and one hundred and fifty hydrants for fire protection.

Jasper N. Hill was tiie first siiperintonilent. and serxed up to August :21st, ISSC), when C. K. McCullough was appointed. Mr. Hiil gaye his seryice to the city, and at a meeting on the aboye date the Hoard voted their thanks to Mr. Hill for his kindness. Mr. Alfreil Cobiirn succeeded Mr. McCullough as superintendent, other business matters causing Mr. McCullough to giye it up. Mr. Coburn filled the position with credit up to the time of his death, which occurred April, :*nd, 1891. Mr. Frank Davis was appointed to the vacancy but on account of other business he was forced to resign after, a few months" seryice. The Board then accepted the services of S. A. Towell as superintendent, and he still holds the position.

E. P. Schlater was the first clerk. He filled the position up to April, 1888, when on account of other matters he resigned. Mr. Byron McMahan succeeded Mr. Schlater, and filled the position to the entire satisfaction of the Board and eyervbodv else until his law practice increased so as to require his whole attention, and he had to lay down the quill.

Mr. Edmund Johnson was Mr. McMahan's successor and kept the books to the satisfaction of all until his election to County Clerk in the fail of 1894 and Mr. James T. Knowland was appointed to the clerkship of the Board, and sl very satisfactory appointment it was proven to be. His daughter. Miss Lena Knowland, one of his assistants in iiis office, is the faithful custodian of the books.

Patrick Cain was the first engineer at the pumping station. His contract dated July 6, 188(>. He was succeeded Sept. 18, 1886. by John Ewing, who resigned Oct. 4, 1880, and a contract was entered into with David O. Cook. Mr. Cook was succeeded, Oct. 29, 1887, by Theo. F. Jones, who filled the position to June, 1895, when, on account of sickness and loss of a limb, he was forced to retire. He was succeeded by Mr. Henry Drach with Chauncy O. Towell as assistant.

far as operating expenses are concerned for the last six years, and now have a surplus of between four and live thousand doUars to apply on debts or put into extensions.

Axdersox'S Sewerage System

Prior to the discoverv of natural gas, Anderson was entirely without any system of sewerage as is the case with all country towns and smaller cities. ^Vith the influx of population, it soon became apparent that a system of sewerage was necessary for the health and comfort of the growing city. In the month of January, IS'.'l. a movement was placed on foot in the direction of placing a thorough system in operation by instructing Henry Rawie. city civil engineer, to open correspondence with George E. Warring, a sanitary engineer of Newport, Rhode Island.

Mr. Rawie accordingly made investigation, and after a consultation with Mr. Warring, a move by the city council w-as carried out by making a complete survey of the city, and a map of the location of the proposed mains and laterals thereto.

Air. Warring is an expert engineer in sanitary sewerage, having been a member of the Royal Institute of Engineers of Holland, and also of the Institute of Civil Engineers for England. His plans were completed b)' Engineer Rawie who made a topographical map, and presented it to the city council which was adopted and resulted in the advfytising for sealed proposals for the construction of the work, and on the 15th of July, 1891, a contract was made with Kinser & Tuhey, of Terre Haute, Indiana, for the carrying out of the same, tiie contract price being $71,900.

The work was imder the Barrett law .system making the cost payable by parties owning lots touching upon the line of the streets through which the sewer passed. Work was begun immediately by the contractors and carried on to successful completion in the year 1892, thereby giving Anderson one of the most complete and thorough sanitary sewerage systems in the State of Indiana.

At this w'riting, it has been in use for four years without obstruction or in any way bemg a source of aggravation to the citizens. Mr. Rawie, the city engineer, was in the outset criticized (|uite freely by many of the tax pavers, and the svs- tein condeiniieil, but time Hms j^liown tliat lie was right, antl that his critics were wroiifj;. The sewerage system of Anderson is a staiuliiig inoiuiment to his wisdom and also to the good sense of the citv fathers who adopted his plans.