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1928 City Hall
and Volunteer Fire Department
Compiled by Mary Belle Ingram & Wendy Burgess
Written 1996
The public building of Spanish architecture located on Block
107, Lots 13, 14 and 15 in Bay City, Texas served the Bay
City Community as a City Hall and Fire Department from 1928
through 1964, and as the Matagorda County Museum from 1965
to 1992. It is now, in 1996, being renovated and restored to
its former beauty to be a part of city government as Bay
City closes out this twentieth century.
Not only is the building historic, but the site itself, as it
was on Lot 13 that a red two-story, iron-clad structure
erected in 1909 housed the first fire department and City
Hall. This building was demolished in 1927. One of the first
events in this building was the Matagorda County Fair which
was held that first year in 1909. The City Council met
upstairs in the building until 1919 when they moved their
meeting to a new bank building, Citizens State Bank. Rugeley
and Magill owned Lot 13 until the City purchased it on July
4, 1911.
The need to build a new building for the
fire department came at the request of the Bay City
Volunteer Fire Department in 1927. The Volunteer Fire
Department, organized in 1906, fought the first fires as a
bucket brigade and graduated to a two wheeled hand-drawn
chemical cart and two hand-drawn hose carts. By 1916 they
had purchased their first truck. This equipment was kept in
the iron-clad building and in a brick building on Avenue I.
On March 3, 1927, the City Council
discussed plans to build a City Hall. In April of 1927 Simon
Lewis and John Hood, volunteers for the Fire Department came
before City Council with an appeal that a fire station was
badly needed.
Later, Judge A. Harris came before the
City Council asking for a bond election for the erection of
a new building for both the City Hall and Fire Department,
but the issue was turned down until a later date. Judge
Harris made another appearance at the council meeting on
November 17, 1927. Mayor Pat Thompson informed Harris that
plans were already being made by an architect by the name of
Noonan of San Antonio. Mr. Noonan came before council with a
sketch of City Hall and February 2, 1928.
On March 7, 1928 the Daily Tribune
reported with head lines "City Hall Project Goes Over Big!"
A bond issue for $30,000 was passed by an overwhelming
majority with 356 for the issue and 69 against. By March 16,
1928 the City Hall bonds had sold in Dallas.
On April 5th, 1928 the City purchased
Lots 14 and 15 from F. A. Hurley and on these three lots the
City Hall, Fire Department and an auditorium which would
seat 715 people was erected. The contract was let to A. P.
Rheiner and Son of San Antonio; their bid being $21,800. The
electric wiring went to Graham & Collins of San Antonio with
a bid of $476. Bids on light fixtures went to Thompson and
Greer for $506.83 and plumbing to Karl F. Kruger of San
Antonio. The contractor agreed to finish the work in 75
working days. The council decided to get bids to remove the
iron-clad building and other buildings so no delay would be
encountered. The project was completed in October, 1928 less
than seven months after the project was approved.
The October 26, 1928 edition of The
Daily Tribune reported, "City Offices Moved to the New
City Hall."
The uptown offices of the city which
have occupied the rear of the Citizens State Bank for the
past several years were moved to the City Hall yesterday.
The removal took the city tax
collector and assessor outfit to the new quarters as well as
that of the school district assessor and collector. Council
meetings will be held at the City Hall from now on, as well
as Chamber of Commerce meetings.
City assessor and collector, Ed
Anderson and school district assessor and collector, Dora
Dienst will have their offices in the same room immediately
inside the front entrance on the right.
Other apartments for Council room,
Chamber of Commerce and fire department with rooming
quarters and amusement hall for firemen are provided for in
front of the building which faces Sixth Street. The
auditorium occupies the south end of the building...
On November 7, 1928, the City Hall doors
were opened to the public. The Daily Tribune wrote:
The Athletic Council of the Bay City
High School, assisted by Miss Addie Pearl Nicholas and Mrs.
Keye Ingram gave a house warming at the brand new City Hall
auditorium with the presentation of a stunt night.
The lower floor was filled and many
seats in the balcony were taken. Practically all of the 800
tickets were sold and a very successful return was made to
aid the athletic department of the Bay City High School.
The building was officially accepted on
December 16, 1928 by the City Council members.
The building was described as a one story
rectilinear gabled roofed structure of stuccoed brick
featuring Spanish colonial revival doorways and arcaded
fenestration. The walls are stuccoed brick-load bearing. The
roof was originally Spanish tile and is now composition. The
building housed city offices from 1928 through 1965 and the
Bay City Fire Department from 1928 through 1950. The rear
auditorium was demolished in the 1940s.
The building provided not only room for
the City Council and Fire Department but provided the first
auditorium for the community. It was used for symphony
orchestra practices, church programs, graduations, plays,
concerts, etc. The Douglas Morgan Show Company brought a
special presentation in 1929.
The officials for the City of Bay City in
1928/29 were Mayor Pat Thompson; Alderman F. G. Cobb, S. E.
Doughtie, J. C. Lewis, Carl Bachman and W. H. Poole;
Marshall, L. H. Clark; Assessor-Collector, Ed
Anderson; Secretary, P. G. Secrest; Attorney, Charles V.
Yeamans; Fire Marshall, R. E. Lindsey, Fire Chief, Earl
Johnson; Night Watchman, D. R. Chapman; and Street and
Bridge Department head, John Wise. The Fire Department was
all volunteer and had no permanent employees.
The Matagorda County Historical Survey
Committee and Society was organized in 1957 to preserve the
history of Matagorda County and gather artifacts and
memorabilia pertaining to that history. Several successful
historical displays had been exhibited at the Bay City
Service Center and the Survey Committee decided to establish
a museum to take care of this vast collection. In 1963 the
Matagorda County Museum Association was organized and the
following year, 1964, interested citizens under the capable
leadership of Florence Gusman requested that the "old City
Hall" be used for a county museum. In August, 1965, the
request was approved.
All of the rooms were devoted to telling
the story of Matagorda County through artifacts, documents
and many, many items given by citizens throughout the
county. The collection told the history of the people of
Matagorda County dating back to Stephen F. Austin in 1822.
The building served well as a museum setting until 1992 when
at that time the museum holdings were moved into the Bay
City Post Office Building of 1917/18 vintage.
Today, 1996, the building is receiving a
well deserved renovation and "facelift" to return it to its
original beauty, minus the auditorium which was demolished
some fifty years ago. The building's architectural style and
its multi-function role in Bay City's history makes it a
valuable structure.
The City of Bay City employees, after
much study of the building, with consultation of Thomas
Nooonan of San Antonio, son of the original architect, and
qualified engineers have placed concrete bell bottom piers
to stabilize the original building footing. The windows on
the east side which were concreted in were opened once more
with aluminum, double glazed thermal panes to match the
original windows on the front and the west side. A
fiberglass panel door to match the original front door has
been installed to the west side door which once opened to
the foyer of the 1928 auditorium. Also, fiberglass panel
door panels will be used to create false fire station doors
on the front of the building. Plans are to move the fire
bell that once called the 1908 fire brigade to assemble,
from the present fire station back to the side of this
renovated building. The interior walls have been sheet
rocked and completely refurbished.
This building, only a block from the
present City Hall and Fire Station on its East side and its
close proximity to the square on the West places it in a
visible location. This old City Hall, almost seventy years
of age, has character and potential and is an irreplaceable
part of Bay City's history.
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