Fire Museum of Texas Collection

The Fire Museum of Texas opened in 1984 in Beaumont, Texas, with the mission of preserving and celebrating the history of firefighting in Texas. Its collections emphasize not only the history of firefighting and firefighters, but also fire safety and fire prevention education. In 1986, the Museum was recognized by the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas as the state's official fire museum. Much of the Museum's collections were donated to it by the Beaumont Fire Department.

The first fire department of Beaumont was established on December 19, 1881, a few months after a large lumberyard fire. A citizens' committee vote created Beaumont Fire Company No. 1, which had sixteen volunteer members. Its first rotary pump arrived in 1882, and two deep wells were dug in 1884. Ed C. Ogden served as the first recorded fire chief of the city, and the fire department expanded along with the city over the following years. Its necessity was made clear in the months following the discovery of oil at Spindletop in 1901, as several oil fires broke out on the hill, requiring all of the department's skill to extinguish.

In 1906, Stephen Douglas O'Conner joined the fire department. He rose through the ranks of the department quickly, becoming a station captain in 1910, and a Lieutenant in 1913. He became Assistant Chief in 1916, and finally became Department Chief in 1918. He remained in that position for thirty-eight years, until 1956. He oversaw the transition from horses to motorized vehicles during his time as Chief, and led the department through the boom that accompanied the discovery of "Second Spindletop" in 1925.

Shortly after this second boom, Johnny Southwell, the city's electrician, designed and installed the first traffic signal in Beaumont, and an underground cable for the police department telegraph system. A few years later, he also built the police and fire radio communications system, the seventh such system in the United States. Southwell played a significant role in redesigning the traffic patterns of Beaumont, a long-overdue necessity. Finally, he designed and built a searchlight truck for the Fire Department, which it sent to the New London School disaster in 1937 and the Texas City disaster in 1947.

Pete Shelton, a second-generation firefighter, became the Department Chief in 1976, and turned the Department into one of the best paid departments in the United States. He helped create the Fire Museum of Texas, which is housed in the city's historic Central Fire Station. Today, Chief Anne Huff, the first female Chief in Beaumont, leads the Fire Department, which boasts twelve fire stations, a 27 acre training center, and about 230 personnel.