DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, the year is 1867, and the town of Brenham, Texas has itself a problem. Two problems, actually — fires and lawlessness.
So what do you do? You start not one but two volunteer organizations, and you start them on the same day: May 28, 1867. The Brenham Hook and Ladder Co. and the Fire Protection Co. rolled out together, ostensibly — and I love that the marker uses that word, ostensibly — to fight fires.
But there was more going on than bucket brigades and ladder drills. These were military companies, too, tasked with suppressin' lawlessness during Reconstruction. They wore two hats, and they wore both of them until 1874, when Reconstruction ended and the double duty was done.
After that, they could focus on the fire business proper. And focus they did. In 1875, a fire alarm bell went up on the courthouse square.
By 1880, a fifty-gallon cistern had been installed right there alongside it. And then there was 1878 — the year Brenham acquired something remarkable. The second steam fire engine in the entire state of Texas.
The second one. In all of Texas. That alone ought to earn a town some bragging rights.
But here's where the story takes a turn toward something warmer, something that smells a little like sausage and sounds a lot like a brass band. In 1881, the firemen of Brenham sponsored the First Annual Brenham Maifest. And then they kept right on sponsoring it — for sixty years straight.
In 1884, they even built a pavilion in Fireman's Park just for the occasion. These were men who showed up for a fire and stayed for a festival. And somehow, that might be the most Texas thing in this whole story.
What the marker says
Two volunteer organizations, Brenham Hook and Ladder Co. and the Fire Protection Co., were started May 28, 1867, ostensibly to fight fires. In reality they were also military companies to suppress lawlessness until in 1874 Reconstruction ended. In 1875 a fire alarm bell and in 1880 a 50-gallon cistern were installed on courthouse square. The second steam fire engine in Texas was purchased in 1878. In 1881, firemen sponsored the First Annual Brenham Maifest, then continued it 60 years. In 1884 they built for the event a pavilion in Fireman's Park.