STATIONS
HOUSING FOR THE FIRE COMPANY
On May 21, 1889, the Commissioners Court of Austin County gave permission to the newly organized Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 to erect a truck house on the part of the jail lot that was unfenced. This unfenced portion was the entire 120 feet of frontage on Holland street, running 66 feet back on Luhn Street. Within a month in time for the arrival of the company’s first piece of fire fighting equipment, a small building had been erected on the corner of Luhn and Holland. Funds for the construction were secured by public subscription. For the next twenty years the firemen were to store thier equipment at this site.
On April 28, 1900, for $200 Austin County sold to the fire company the north part of the unfenced property to the west of the jail, a lot north of the occupied by the 1886 truck house. This lot was out of the northwest corner of the jail property, running 52 feet along Holland and 66 feet deep. It was not until February of 1907 that the firemen moved their truck house to their own property immediately in front of the opera house.
August 10, 1913, the fire company evidently entered into a contract with C.A. Master, an active member of the fire company, permitting him to erect a galvanized iron building on the south 20 feet of the lot owned by the fire company, south of their small truck house. Master was to pay $15 a year rent.
In 1915, the truck house built in 1886 was described as “old and dilapidated.” The next year, this building was sold to Jesse Perrine and removed from the lot. In a contract dated August 4, 1916, the Bellville Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 agreed to permit C.A. Master to construct a 33X 65 foot galvanized iron building on fire company property, adjoining the one he had built 1913. This warehouse Master proposed to build would house his blacksmith and repair shop, as well as all fire fighting apparatus, which at the time included the old ladder wagon, hose truck and also a new chemical truck the firemen wanted to purchase. In this contract, the fire company agreed to pay the construction of a concrete floor and walls for the proposed building. Master further agreed to assume charge of the fire company’s equipment, keep same in good working order, make any and all repairs necessary, with the only charge to the fire company to be the cost of material.
On October 20, 1922, C.A. Master sold to Bellville Volunteer Fire Company for $800 the building and improvments he built on fire company property. This building was to hose the Firefighting equipment for the next 35 years. On January 15, 1930, it was voted to have the meeting hall made into a comfortable meeting place, and to permit Woodmen of the World, Sons of Herman, and Praetorian lodges to meet in the meeting roomat the rate of $20 per year. They were also to pay $6 per year toward the electric bill.
A bond issue in the amount of $75,000 was passed June 12, 1956, for the purpose of building a new fire station and city hall. Architect for the building was James K. Dunaway, grandson of C. Schauerhammer, one of the charter members of Bellville Hook and Ladder No. 1. The two story building located at the corner of Luhn Street and Holland Street (location of today’s city hall) was completed in 1957. The company’s regular meeting date was taken up with the business of moving from the 1916 galvanized iron building across the street to the new spacious quarters in the new station. Building dedication took place April 10, 1958, this was the home of the fire department until 1986.
In 1982 work on property donated by San Bernard Electric Co-Operative on West Main began, preparation for the building a new fire station along with fund raisers for the new station also began. Square footage in the proposed building was sold for $35 per foot, the fund raiser was met with enthusiastic response. The new station on West Main Street, completed in 1986, cost the department $360,166 to build.
Information from Bellville Times by Isabel Frizzell