The History of The Towanda Fire Department
as compiled by Linda Pyle
Published in The Herald on November 28, 1889
After people had settled in and around Towanda, fire was always a concern. The first fire of note written about in area newspapers was a fire in the city of Towanda in the fall of 1889. The article mentions vaguely that the fire burned some of the old landmarks. In their place a new livery barn was built. The company Sorter & McAllister, owned by J.S, Sorter and in business 5 years, sold “wonderful women’s clothing according to the Towanda girls” (El Dorado Republican 4 Apr 1890). In 1905, the Walnut Valley Times reported that two freight trains hit head-on at Towanda on April 27, 1905 injuring one engineer, one fireman, and killing about a dozen head of stock waiting to be shipped out by rail.
Although there is no record of an organized and officially recognized fire department at that time, evidence shows that volunteers would respond regularly to city and area fires. Apparently 1910 was a year of many prairie fires. The large farm residence of Mrs. Katherine Gillispie, two miles north of Towanda, caught fire and was totally consumed, the cause assumed to be from a gasoline stove explosion. The fire wasn’t discovered until it was out of control since Mrs. Gillispie was out visiting a neighbor. High winds at the time contributed to its demise. Lightning strikes in the same year of 1910 caused a fire at the Towanda Christian church that the rain put out (The Walnut Valley Times 16 Sep 1910). According to the Benton Record, 9 Feb 1911, a barn owned by Harvey Parks caught fire and burned to the ground, but the house was able to be saved.
Fire tragedy struck downtown Towanda twice in 1912, both believed to be intentionally set. The first of the conflagrations was the Hammond fire that occurred May 9, 1912. This is somewhat of an inaccurate name, since numerous buildings were destroyed in the fire which did begin in the building that housed W.A. Hammond General Store. The Knights of Pythias building, Johnson’s Blacksmith shop, Fred Burnett General Story, and Bolton Dry Goods store were all destroyed in addition to Hammond’s building and business. It was estimated the loss at the time was between $25000 and $30000 (The Weekly Eagle 10 May 1912, Cherryvale Republican 10 May 1912). Less that three weeks later, a second fire destroyed a building owned by Charles Wittenborn. The building was occupied by W.G. Turner’s Creamery, John Hay’s jewelry store, and H.E. Glover’s box ball alley. Volunteers were able to save the other buildings nearby, but one Towanda man expressed that they wouldn’t have been able to do so if there had been any wind. Again, the fire was believed to be intentionally set (The Walnut Valley Times 25 May 1912). Still no official fire department, citizens of Towanda apparently showed up whenever there was a fire to attempt to extinguish these fires.
Three more notable fires occurred in 1914 and 1915. Hiram Elwood’s 6-room house which was two blocks east and one block north of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot was destroyed by fire. Volunteers used a bucket brigade but were unsuccessful in saving the home. The official cause is unknown; however, Mrs. Elwood had lit a lantern while cleaning in the attic and also had the stove going in the kitchen to burn papers. The fire could have been a defective flue or the match used to light the lantern may not have been totally extinguished (The Walnut Valley Times 29 May 1914). Then in July of 1914, E.A. Eckhardts’ wheat field on the north side of Towanda set the volunteers in motion. However, by the time they arrived, Ford Bolton and Mrs. Eckhardt had the fire under control, losing only four shocks of wheat (El Dorado Republican 3 Jul 1914). Finally in April of 1915, J.W. Robison lost eighteen Percherons, four stock horses, the barn and feed in a fire that broke out about ten o’clock on a Saturday night. The origin was not known and nothing could be saved. Nothing was insured (The Augusta Daily Gazette 27 Apr 1915).
Fire Articles, click images to enlarge:
Walnut Valley Times April 23, 1918
Although there probably were other fires in the years until 1918, none were reported in the newspapers. During this time, Dr. Roblyer moved his dental practice to Towanda from Cheney, probably to take advantage of the influx of oil field workers in the area. He opened his practice in Towanda in 1917 in what was called “the new Pyle building” (The Cheney Sentinel 20 Sep 1917). He would eventually become the first city appointed fire chief. The Towanda News reported on 28 Feb 1918 that the city’s new water system would soon be completed. The council also bought 1000 feet of fire hose and two carts with plans to organize a fire department. Once the water system was completed, the fire hose could be attached to the downtown hydrants and using just the system’s water pressure, spray water onto fire and fill buckets. The water system was completed under the direction of Towanda’s city engineer F. E. Devlin, and was credited with saving the downtown business area in April of 1918. C.V. Moore’s meat market, Vestral’s restaurant and a nearby boarding house were nearly destroyed by fire on the south side of East Main Street. It was reported that within five minutes of the alarm sounding, two streams of water were flowing from the hydrants to the fire using the new hose and cart systems previously purchased (The Walnut Valley Times 23 Apr 1918 and The Merchants Journal 27 Apr 1918). The Wichita Beacon reported that the fire also burned Mason’s Barber Shop, Holmes’ cafe, NorthSide Furniture store and Traskey’s Bakery. Volunteers were able to save Stewart’s stone general store on the west end of the block and the Stewart’s residence on the east end of the block. The fire started in the middle of the block and looked highly dangerous for some time due to the strong winds at the time (23 Apr 1918). There were once again volunteer firefighters on scene, but no official department organized by the city. Also in 1918, the Revert Oil Company had a fire in the Towanda Oil field destroying derricks and tanks on the schoolhouse lease valued at $15000. It threatened to sweep over other leases in the area but fire departments from Towanda and El Dorado were able to put the fire out (The Chanute Daily Tribune 15 Aug 1918 and The Towanda News 22 Aug 1918).
The city began to take action in organizing an official fire department by appointing Dr. Roblyer, local dentist, to be the fire chief. It was left to him to organize a department. Dr. Roblyer had been appointed Fire Chief by Mayor W.L. Green. Dr. Roblyer held a meeting in his office with downtown businessmen, and took preliminary steps in organizing a Volunteer Department. Percy Torry was selected as Secretary and W. E. Dymond was elected Treasurer (The Towanda Advocate 15 May 1919). Apparently shortly after this May meeting, Dr. Roblyer left Towanda, since in June there was another huge fire that destroyed the ice plant in Towanda and there was no mention of a Towanda Fire Chief. The ice plant owned by Hugh Davis and others, was only built the year before, and had only been operational for two to three weeks . It caught fire by overheating woodwork from the back boilers. The company was a stock owned company and Mr. Adolph Kropf was president. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Kropf lived in the front of the building, Frank being the engineer of the company (El Dorado Republican 27 Jun 1919). A huge explosion also took place when the ammonia tank blew through the roof. The Midian Fire Chief John Call is who directed the citizen volunteers of the fire department until they had to stop their efforts due to having exhausted the water supply (another paper reported weak water pressure). It was said that the city only had 500 feet of fire hose at their disposal at this time. That is half of what was purchased in 1918. Immediately after the fire, a meeting was held and the fire company was organized but no list of officers or members were available to the paper at that time (The Walnut Valley Times 25 Jun 1919). Midian Fire Chief John Call gave those in attendance of this post-fire meeting valuable instruction and advice. The organizational process was happening but seemed to lack the support of the downtown businessmen of the city. Members of the department were determined to create an efficient fire fighting team and vowed to move ahead. Another fire meeting was held the following Friday evening and the paper encouraged all that could possibly attend to do so (The Towanda Advocate 26 Jun 1919). Again, no visible progress seemed to be apparent to the public, and The Towanda Advocate published a brief encouragement again in August of 1919 by asking, “What has become of the Fire Department? Let’s get busy.” Although not apparent, the fire department had continued to build and put John Call’s advice and training to use in November when Homer Logan’s home on west main street was almost destroyed by fire. The Towanda Advocate reported that “the Volunteer Fire Department made a quick run and the flames were soon under control and put out.” The Logan family had been awakened by a neighbor who was passing by. The cause was suspected to be electrical (The Towanda Advocate 13 Nov 1919).
Finally in January of 1920 at the city council meeting, the city at the closing of their session appointed Mr. J.M. McDonald as Fire Chief of the city of Towanda. Charles Wittenborn was appointed the Assistant Chief, Frank Squier as Secretary, and J.E. Kullman as Treasurer. Claud Reed, Robert Waite, George Fairchild, Frank Squier and I.E. Kullman–city clerk at the time–were listed as firefighters. The firefighters were divided into two divisions to be called Number 1 and Number 2. The writer of the newspaper article calls upon citizens to “do our part to prevent any damages to be done by fire, and help out in case there should be any need of assistance” (The Towanda Advocate 22 Jan 1920). The city finally had an officially recognized and organized fire department that would respond with authority to act.
