Fire Truck and new City Hall Building Signaled Exciting Times In Marion in 1927.

May 4, 1920

Marion City Council Meeting

The matter of the purchase of a fire truck equipped with the necessary apparatus for extinguishing fires came before the council. It was explained that with this apparatus costing only $2,500 would save the residents of Marion about $5,000 annually in fire insurance premiums, providing the city have the necessary volunteer fire department. It was voted that the truck be purchased.

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Nov. 19, 1920

The new chemical fire engine which the city council purchased last spring arrived on Tuesday. A demonstrator from the factory came with the machine, which he assembled it immediately.
The apparatus is mounted on a Ford chassis and has a capacity sufficiently large to extinguish a fire of considerable size and will do it quickly. The engine is equipped with chemicals which when mixed produce Carbon Dioxide, the most effective gas known for fighting fires.

The new engine cost the city about $2,800, however the reduction in fire insurance premiums will be en ought to repay this in a very few years.

A volunteer fire department will be organized immediately. On their hands will be the responsibility of subduing in its early stages any conflagration, which might happen in Marion.

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Jan. 7, 1927 – A New Fire Engine

The new fire engine ordered several months ago by the city arrived this week. This engine has already been tried out and is ready for use when the occasion arises. The guaranteed capacity of this new piece of fire fighting equipment is 500 gallons per minute and under test this week pumped 420 gallons in one minute.

With the old engine the firemen had to depend on water pressure alone in fighting flames but the pumping equipment on the new adds increased force and provides for the use of a larger number of gallons per minute.

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April 8, 1927 – Council Votes to Purchase a Lot. According to plans presented to the city council, at their regular meeting Monday evening, by Councilman C. B. Hina, Marion is to have a municipal building.

Mr. Hina was the chairman of a committee named to look into the matter of securing a site for a proposed city hall and fire headquarters, and reported to the council that the lot belonging to W. E. Cox, located just north of the Masonic building on Bellville, could be purchased for $1,275.00

The proposed building would contain offices for the police judge, city clerk and mayor, with ample storage room for the fire truck and equipment, and a storeroom for other city property.

It is planned to construct this fireproof building at a cost of about $3,000.

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April 22, 1927- City Installs Fire Alarm Controls. Marion has three new remote control stations for the operation of the fire siren. The installation was completed on Monday of this week by Guy R. Lamb and his assistants.

One of the new stations is at the corner of Main and Carlisle streets, on the Marion Bank side of the street, another is at the garage of the Stephens Motor company, where the new fire truck is kept (until the new location is finished) and the other is at the residence of the fire chief, D. E. Moore, on College Street.

The fire alarm system of the town now operates more systematically than ever before. During business hours all reports of fire are to be telephoned to the Stephens Garage, and after business hours to the residence of D. E. Moore or turning in from the street station by the Marion Bank.

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 September 30, 1927 - New Modern Garage.  J. N. Boston and Sons are the builders of one of Marion's finest and most modern garage buildings in the state of Kentucky.  The building, which when completed, will be occupied by the Stephens Motor Company, and will have a front of pressed brick and side walls of glazed red tile.  It is to have a steel structure, and part of the front space will be occupied by a filling station.  Entrance to the main part of the building will be through the front and also from the side street.  A large show room with spacious windows will occupy the front part of the building.  The new Marion fire truck will also be housed in this new building.

(Pictures of the new Stephens Garage on South Main Street.  In later years it would house the Crittenden Motor Company and T. and W. Electric.  It's still a beautiful old building sitting empty.  (H & R Block uses a section during tax season each year.)  How about those gas pumps on the side walk next to the street.) 

Dec. 30, 1927 – Passing Year One of Activity. As the bells Saturday night ring out the passing of the old and herald the arrival of a new year, Marion people will perhaps be reminded by the triumphant ringing of the progress that this year, 1927 has brought to the town.

This year has seen the erection of a much-needed public building, Marion's new city hall, which occupies the Bellville Street lot adjoining the Masonic Hall. 

Council members at this time were: A. J. Baker, Albert Henry, George James, M.O. Eskew, C. B. Hina and E. F. Sullenger, Mayor – J. G. Rochester, Clerk – John G. Bellamy, City Attorney - John A. Moore, Fire Chief - D. E. Moore.