The recent death of a volunteer firefighter in North Little Rock reminds me that throughout our history volunteers have been in the forefront of fire protection in Arkansas. This was certainly true in 19th-century Little Rock, where volunteers established informal fire companies to protect the small but growing city.
Frontier Little Rock was highly vulnerable to fires, in part due to the city being built mostly of wood. Hiram A. Whittington, a new arrival in the territorial capital in 1827, noted in a letter home that the town had "about sixty buildings, six brick, eight frame and the balance log cabins."
The first fire occurred in 1830; damage was limited by a lack of wind and high humidity. One newspaper editorialized on the need for fire protection: "In a town as large as ours there is not a single fire bucket, much less an engine and hooks and ladders, within its limits. Is it not high time that a proper fire apparatus should be provided for our town?"
In 1834 the Little Rock City Council authorized the mayor to purchase a fire engine, but the city did not have the funds and an appeal to the legislature was rebuffed. Finally in 1839, after obtaining a $5,000 loan from the State Bank of Arkansas, the city ordered a fire engine, hoses, and a hose cart.
Until the invention of steam-powered fire engines and pumps in the 1850s, the water from engines was pumped by manual labor. It took at least 12 men to operate the pumps, a tiring task which required the men to work in shifts. By 1842 the engine was in pitiful shape with corroded valves, rotting hoses, and sand in the engine.
With the city's efforts having come to naught, in 1847 a group of citizens established the Little Rock Fire Company, the first of many volunteer fire suppression organizations created in the city. To provide proper ladders and other tools, the Defiance Hook and Ladder Company was organized in 1854.
The Torrent Fire Company, created in 1860, provided the second fire engine for the city. The first steam-powered fire engine was purchased right after the Civil War, in 1867. A third engine company was organized to manage this new engine, the Pat Cleburne Steam Fire Engine Company. The engine was bright red and weighed 5,000 pounds. The Cleburne Company was the largest of the early companies, having 46 members and six officers. Other volunteer companies were the Pulaski and the Union fire companies.
Though created by the city, the various fire companies were private organizations governed by a set of bylaws and administered by a group of officers. Members paid dues and provided their own uniforms.
Linda Pine, who has published a fine article on the early volunteer fire companies of Little Rock, demonstrated that these were middle-class institutions. For example, in 1881 the five officers of the Pat Cleburne Company consisted of a china and glass dealer, the chief of police, a policeman, a hardware store owner, and a carpenter. Among many other occupations represented were butchers, druggists, tinsmiths, coppersmiths, a barber, and the proprietor of a bowling alley. At least one lawyer was among the volunteers. A company composed only of mechanics--meaning laborers--was denied recognition.
The fire companies also did not allow black members. Indeed, in 1877 when black residents from the heavily black Sixth Ward applied to form a company, they were turned down.
The fire companies were as much social as anything. In some ways they were like fraternity houses. Members wore distinctive uniforms. Members of the Torrent Company wore Garibaldi jackets trimmed in deep blue, black pants, and black hats. Perhaps most distinctively dressed were the men in the Pat Cleburne Company: red shirts with green collars and cuffs, black hats and pants, and across the chest an embroidered shield with the name and number of the company.
Beginning in 1860, the volunteer fire companies were recognized with parades, followed by parties and a ball. Those attending the 1870 parade were treated to a visual extravaganza when the Defiance Hook and Ladder Company engine rolled down the street, the six horses being led by black grooms costumed in white shirts, scarlet pants, and turbans.
The fun and games did not mask the fact that fighting fires involved really hard work and no small amount of danger. For example, Henry Brookin, a member of the Pat Cleburne Company, was killed in 1891 when he fell from an engine as it turned a street corner and was run over by a rear wheel. Brookin's grave at Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock is marked with a sculpture of a fireman holding a hose. Every time I see that statue I am reminded of what we owe volunteer firefighters.
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Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist living in rural Hot Spring County. His fire protection is provided by the Glen Rose Volunteer Fire Department. Email him at Arktopia.td@gmail.com.
Editorial on 01/31/2016