Enid Fire Station Bell - Enid, OK - Bells on Waymarking.com

This fire bell is on display in front of the Enid Fire Department Central Station in Enid, Oklahoma. The bell tower also hosts a firefighter's memorial.

The plaque at the fire bell reads:

The Old Fire Bell
1894 saw Enid a town of wooden buildings. Had a fire occurred during a high wind the town would have been practically wiped out. There was no fire department. There was constant fear, lest some over enthusiastic from North Enid would set the town on fire in order to enhance the supremacy of the north town. A like fear was also felt at North Enid; with the result that each employed night patrolmen to guard against such a contingency. There were no telephones, no church bells, no steam whistles or other means to sound a public alarm. To provide means for sounding general alarm, the citizens chipped in to purchase a bell and erected it on a frame support on the public square. This improvised belfry stood on the west side of Grand avenue on south of the present Broadway. The bell was called the firebell though as stated its function was to enable the citizens to assemble quickly for any emergency. When the old bell clapper clanged, men could be seen immediately running toward it from all directions, many of them carrying buckets, but in fact suspecting something other than a fire had caused the sounding of the alarm. After Enid had organized its first fire department this old bell was still used to sound the fire alarm. It is not recorded that the old bell ever actually saved the town from any great catastrophe, but it often came into play to notify Enid of emergencies.

Memorial Dedication October 9, 2005

A small plaque at the base of the tower reads

ENID FIRE DEPARTMENT
100th ANNIVERSARY
MARCH 23, 2002

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL "FIRE BELL" WHICH
HUNG AT THE FIRST ENID FIRE STATION,
WHICH WAS LOCATED ON THE SW CORNER
OF WHAT IS NOW BROADWAY AND GRAND

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Date Logged Log   09/28/2019 Max and 99 visited it