In the Beginning
A Bucket Line, a Bell, and a Town Worth Saving
In 1894, Claypool was a young railroad town of frame buildings, wooden sidewalks, coal stoves, and kerosene lamps. A fire that got a head start didn't take one building — it took the block.
So the town did what small towns across Indiana did: it organized. Farmers, shopkeepers, and tradesmen put their names on a roster and agreed that when the alarm sounded, they would come running. No pay. No shifts. No station full of career crews. Just a standing promise between neighbors.
That promise is the oldest thing this department owns, and it is the only piece of equipment we've never had to replace.
The trucks changed. The radios changed. The people who show up are still your neighbors.
Our Oldest Apparatus
The Horse-Drawn Engine
This is where Claypool's fire service started: a hand-drawn and horse-drawn rig with wooden spoked wheels, brass lanterns for night calls, and a chemical tank that let a handful of men knock down a fire before it spread to the next building.
Getting it to a fire meant harnessing a team or putting men on the tongue and pulling. Getting water on the fire meant working by lantern light with whatever you brought with you. It was slow, heavy, dangerous work — and for decades it was all that stood between this town and open flame.
The department has kept and restored it. You'll still see it out for parades, Founder's Day, and community events — because the best way to explain what a volunteer department is worth is to park 1894 next to today's truck and let people look at both.
Milestones
Our Timeline
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1894
The Department Is Organized
Citizens of Claypool formally organize a volunteer fire company to protect the town, equipped with hand- and horse-drawn apparatus — including the chemical engine the department still owns today.
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Today
Still All-Volunteer
More than 130 years later, the department remains staffed entirely by volunteers who live and work in and around Claypool — on call around the clock, every day of the year. The equipment modernized. The arrangement never changed.
There's a lot of road between those two entries. Most of it was never written down. We're working to recover it — see below if you can help.
The People
Those Who Have Served
A department is not a building or a truck. It's a list of names — fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, families who have put three and four generations through this firehouse.
Current Leadership
- Fire Chief Rick Hurley
- Assistant Chief Bryan Thompson
Coming soon: a roll of past chiefs and a memorial to the members we've lost. If you have names, dates, or photographs that belong here, we would be grateful for them.
If you served on this department — or your father or grandfather did — we want your story on this page.
Share a Memory or PhotoAn Honest Request
Help Us Fill In the Gaps
Here's the truth about small-town fire department history: a lot of it was never written down. It lives in shoeboxes of photographs, in newspaper clippings in a scrapbook, and in the memories of people who are getting older.
We're trying to gather it before it's gone. If you have anything from this department's past, we'd love to scan it and give the original right back to you.
Get In TouchEspecially Looking For
- Photographs of old apparatus, the station, or crews
- Newspaper clippings about fires or fundraisers
- Meeting minutes, rosters, and membership records
- Old helmets, badges, patches, and equipment
- Names and service dates of past chiefs and members
- Stories — write them down or just tell us in person
Be Part of the Next Chapter
Six generations of this community have kept the Claypool Volunteer Fire Department running. Here's how you can take your turn.