Durant Bell

The company this bell belonged to carried a railroad name. Cheyenne was only weeks old when a prairie fire threatened it in October 1867. Volunteers formed the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company, and with the Union Pacific's help the Thomas C. Durant Engine Company followed, named for the railroad's vice president and given a $10,000 steam engine, said to be the first west of the Missouri. The J. T. Clark Hose Company came in 1879. Volunteers fought Cheyenne's fires until May 1, 1909, when a paid department replaced them.

What the plaque says

Durant Bell The Durant Hose Co., and J.T. Clark Co., each purchased huge bells, and boasted the first fire engines in Cheyenne. Both companies used the fire bells as long as their organizations existed. The J.T. Clark Bell may be seen at the old Johnson School. Restored 1982

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wyoming State Capitol — 0.3 mi
  A sandstone capitol set to face the Union Pacific depot down one long street, its copper dome gilded in 1900 when the copper tarnished.
• Cheyenne Frontier Days — 1.7 mi
  A railroad agent's excursion scheme for a town with no crop to celebrate, which became a six-hour show in 1897 and the Daddy of 'em All.

More markers nearby

• The Cheyenne-Ft. Laramie-Deadwood Trail — 0.2 mi
• St. Mark's Episcopal Church — 0.3 mi
• First Women's Suffrage Movement — 0.3 mi
• The Cheyenne Opera House and Territorial Library — 0.3 mi