Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 6 November 1997 — Page 17

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The Muncie Times, November 6,1997 • Page 17

66 A First Hand Account — Chapter One” Before Desegragation of the Muncie Fire Department

Muncie, located in east central Indiana, formally organized a paid fire department in the 1890s as the city became a bustling metropolis of heavy manufacturing industry brought about by the discovery of what seemed to be an unlimited supply of natural gas in areas that surrounded Muncie. To illustrate how rapidly the city was growing during those years, a look at the U. S. Census figures will give the reader a better look. In 1850 the census showed 10,843 people lived in Delaware County. Of those, only 900 were listed as living in what was described as Muncie Centre. By 1860 that number had

grown by over 50 percent to 15, 737 residents in the county. By 1879 it was up to 18,976. By 1890 the number had risen to 22,706 residents in the county, an increase of over 100 percent. Records of the Muncie Fire Department in 1897 list the name of a well known Muncie “horseman” Wick Adams as a member of the department. Unfortunately there is no other information on how long he stayed or what his job was. It is presumed that he was hired to care for the horses that pulled the fire apparatus in those days. Something happened to Adams who was black. In April 1900 City Council records indicate a petition was presented to the Muncie City Council with

the following request: “Colored voters and citizens of Muncie request the appointment of the following Colored people to manage and control Fire Department #3.” The petition named J. Henry Wallace, Warren Richardson, N. F. Curtis and Wick Adams as candidates for appointment. It was signed by J. A. McWilliams, Charles Conway (jailer), W. F. Stokes (patrolman), John F. Jones (groceryman) and Isaac N. Wingfield (blacksmith). The City Council referred the request to its Committee on the Fire Department, where it apparently died without further action. Although the Muncie Negro community continued to

agitate for the appointment of Negro members to the Muncie Fire Department, nothing would happen for the next 40 years. It would not be until the 1930s when the political climate in Muncie became more sensitive to the concerns of the Negro population, a growing political player, that something was done. It came in the 1938 Muncie City election as Mayor Rollin H. Bunch was in a close contest for reelection against popular Republican Ira J. Wilson. Bunch promised in his campaign he would appoint Negro members to the department. To reinforce his promise, he poured the foundation and started to erect the walls of a

fire station in McCulloch Park, just west of Broadway and north of Highland Avenue, to convince the Negro population he was serious about his promise. The remains of that structure are still visible in McCulloch Park. Bunch lost to Wilson in November 1938. The structure was never completed. No one will ever know if Bunch would have made good on his promise had he been re-elected. As the United States entered World War II in 1941, the issue lay fairly dormant, even though it was a point of concern in Muncie’s Negro community in each city election. In 1951 Joseph R. Barclay won the citv election and see CHAPTER 1 on page 18

The success and contribution of this city’s historical African-American firemen has established a sense of pride in all citizens of Muncie. I congratulate them on their many

State Representative Tiny Adams