There were horses before fire trucks.
By Donna Hunt

Herald Democrat
January 4, 2012

 It’s interesting to learn about Denison’s “firsts” and our town has certainly had its fair share of being where many “firsts” have taken place. Through the years stories have been written about many of them, and no doubt there are many that haven’t been preserved through the years.

One first that I ran across that I had not seen before was dated March 19, 1939, in The Denison Herald. A front page picture actually was taken in 1916 in front of the Chestnut Street fire station when the city acquired its brand new, “rhapsody in white” fire truck, the first truck for Denison.

The article said “a gallant and romantic chapter in the history of public welfare, the fire horse, was beginning to be pushed from the picture” with the arrival of the firemen’s dream wagon.

The truck was nicknamed “Old Betsy,” and the article said that it served Denison for about 18 years before “wheezing its ‘last mile’ to the scrap pile.” Wouldn’t it have been great if it had been preserved just for posterity and to look at, ooh and aah over and for children to crawl over?