Marshall Fire Department

The department grew from companies that merged. The city's history page says the Salamander Volunteer Fire Company was chartered on December 1, 1871, with 57 volunteers, and that by 1876 the Stonewall, Red Star and Texas and Pacific companies existed; all four agreed on June 1, 1876, to join forces. Around 1910 the city formed a paid department and named Sid Coleman its first chief. A local historian told KLTV the bell was nearly sold as scrap and was rung in directional codes that told which side of town was burning.

What the plaque says

Marshall Fire Department Prior to the creation of an official department for the city, citizens responded to fires with "bucket brigades." No fire alarm existed, so response time was delayed. The city of Marshall suffered devastating fires in 1868 and 1870. On December 1, 1871, city Alderman William E. Singleton formed the Marshall Salamander Fire Company No. 1. Other volunteer fire departments formed through 1875, such as the Stone Wall Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 and the Texas and Pacific Hook and Ladder Company No. 1. In 1876, a city charter combined these groups into the fire department of the City of Marshall. The Marshall Salamanders purchased a lot at 108 West Houston St. to serve as a fire station. The Salamander Company purchased a fire bell manufactured by J. Register & Sons of Baltimore, Maryland for $200. It weighed 900 pounds, measured 38 inches in diameter at the bottom and stood 24 inches tall. The bell was installed on February 8, 1878. The city charter expired in 1901 and volunteer companies began to withdraw. The bell was officially donated to the City of Marshall in 1901 and housed in a new tower. The city re-formed the Marshall Fire Department once again in 1907 and opened a central station on the lower level of city hall. The bell was moved to the city hall's southeast corner. In 1909, central station received a new steam-powered fire whistle and moved the bell to the north side station at Main and Twyman St. The bell remained there until 1950 when it was removed for construction. In 1963, Chief Glenn Warnstaff and City Manager Hugh Henry discovered the bell under a stairwell at city hall. The bell went on display at the courthouse from 1966 until the late 1990s. It was returned to the Marshall Fire Department and placed on display. (2022)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Starr Family Home State Historic Site — steps away
  Maplecroft, the 1871 Greek Revival house Frank Starr built in Marshall, with Ruth Starr Blake's glass and china, an 1880s kitchen restored in 2019 and a retirement home built for a formerly enslaved person.
• Harrison County Historical Museum — 0.4 mi
  Galleries in Marshall's 1901 courthouse that run from the Caddo to the present, with Wiley College, Lady Bird Johnson's inaugural gown and a military gallery across the square in Memorial City Hall.
• Texas and Pacific Railway Depot and Museum — 0.9 mi
  The only surviving building of the Texas and Pacific shops at Marshall, a 1912 Mission Revival depot saved from demolition in the 1990s, still an Amtrak stop, with a railway museum and a Mikado locomotive.
• Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 15 mi
  Wetlands and woods on part of a former ammunition plant, now a refuge for wood ducks, prothonotary warblers and alligator snapping turtles, with four easy trails and a free visitor center on a Ramsar lake.

More markers nearby

• Fred Lewis — steps away
• Wiley College — 0.3 mi
• James Leonard Farmer, Sr. — 0.3 mi
• Matthew W. Dogan, Sr. — 0.3 mi