The 20th century had just begun, Brownsville’s fire department was based in Market Square with a pumper wagon that was hauled by a fire horse, but the city was realizing that this was not enough.
“Brownsville was in a boom. We had just built a hotel prior to that in 1921 that was a 10 story hotel in 1921 we built the State National Bank which was five stories on Elizabeth Street we didn’t have the machinery in order to get to those levels,” said Eugene Fernandez, Commissioner of the Cameron County Historical Commission.
Almost ten years after buying a pumper truck in 1918 the city decided to further commit to protect its citizens by buying an even larger fire unit that was a full fifty-five feet in length.