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In the 1870s, the Texas & Pacific and International & Great Northern railroads built lines through this area, with the town of Mineola serving as the eventual juncture of the two. Fire was one of many challenges faced by early local inhabitants of the new town; on a single night in the 1880s, a reported eighteen downtown buildings burned, including houses, businesses and a Masonic temple. Residents built new brick structures, but the threat of fire remained. In 1906, officials installed a fire gong at the city well to use as an alarm, and the city council began discussing the formation of a hook and ladder company. The next year, several men organized the Mineola Fire Company, a volunteer group with no connection to the city government, which received its first firefighting equipment in 1908. The volunteer company continued to grow over the next several years, adding chemical and hose trucks, and developing membership requirements. The city adopted the fire company as an official department in 1924 and purchased an American La France fire engine. Between that year and 1928, the city experienced several disastrous fires, including one in 1926 that required assistance from Tyler and Winnsboro firefighters. R.D. Adrian received the contract to build a fire station, completed in 1932. It provided fire equipment storage space, a meeting room and a jail. By the mid-1940s, the city paid insurance on all firemen, who remained volunteers. In 1954, the city hired its first paid firefighters. Ten years later, the department began holding annual rodeos for the community. Over the past several decades, the city has expanded the department and sent its workers to training in firefighting and other emergency and rescue procedures. (2005) |
