Frontier Days: 1877 - 1899

Oklahoma is a land that reaches far back in time. Oklahoma's recorded history began in 1541 when Spanish explorer Coronado ventured through the area on his quest for the "Lost City of Gold." The site that the City of Stillwater now occupies was aquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. No permanent settlement is known to have existed until possibly as early as 1885. It was then a "boomer" settlement was established on the Still Water Creek in what was then Oklahoma Indian Territory. This was rather promptly burned by Federal troops. As far as history knows, this was the first fire of any consequence in the area of what is now Stillwater.

The Congress of The United States of America approved the charter for the town of Stillwater on May 2, 1889. Here too, during 1890, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College was established, what we know today as Oklahoma State University. A fire department was created within the town, but at the time was more a concept than a reality. As with most places in those days, it was structured around the "bucket brigade". Water, not equipment or personnel, was the critical issue.

On September 12, 1893, one entire square block of the original town burned to the ground, more for lack of water then anything. Water for fire fighting would remain a priority of Stillwater for many years, with no easy solution in sight. Not long after this fire, a barn was purchased at the corner of Ninth and Lewis streets and made into Stillwater's first fire station.

The city purchased 25 three-gallon chemical tanks in early 1894, and most hold this to be the actual birth of the Stillwater Fire Department. Mr. M.J.W. Holt was made Stillwater's first Fire Chief and put in charge of distribution and manning of these chemical tanks. By all accounts these tanks were used to extinguish what could have been several serious fires.

In 1895 the first hand-drawn firefighting apparatus, a used ladder wagon, was purchased from the City of Wichita, Kansas. During 1897 the fire department was more formally organized and placed under the control of the Town Council. Four large cisterns were dug along Main Street and a hand-drawn chemical engine was purchased to use with these. Progress continued, and in 1899 the first permanent undergound water distribution system was being built.