Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company collection

Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 was formed in June 1858. Housed in a building on the southwest corner of Market Street (present-day Washington Street) and Jackson Street that still stands today, the company was led by Captain Henry Beusse, later to become the first mayor of Athens. According to the first annual report of the city’s fire engineers, published in November 1858, Pioneer had 19 members, the Athens Fire Company (also known as the Hope Company) had 42, and the Relief Company, also established in 1858, had 48. The first of these, the Athens Fire Company, had only been established in 1850 after efforts by the Independent Hook and Ladder Company in the 1840s had not been successful. Cisterns to store water, located on Broad Street and College Avenue, were finished by 1857; the city used property taxes to pay for them. The same year, the city began plans to purchase a fire engine, in part due to a large fire that broke out in late August-early September 1857; it had to be controlled by a bucket brigade. In addition, new ordinances were passed compelling able-bodied men to assist fighting fires, fining those who refused. Soon before the Pioneer Company was estabilshed, in April 1958, both the Hope and Relief companies had acquired engines and the city council had voted to build a station to house the engines. This building was located on Market Street between College and Lumpkin. The greater organization of the city’s fire emergency services continued apace in 1859, as the city council decided upon using church bells as fire alarms, providing compensation to those who rang the alarms or provided horses to help transport fire engines, and fining those who gave false alarms. In 1891, the city established a municipal fire department with paid employees replacing the earlier volunteer companies.