Pioneer Fire Company

During the Port Royal Experiment, Union military forces established a series of fire companies in downtown Beaufort. The end of the war did not diminish the need for fire protection, and by 1874, during Reconstruction, formerly enslaved men had established the Pioneer Ladder Company – one of the city’s first all-Black fire departments. Oral tradition in the community is that during a fire, the Pioneer Ladder Company would carry the ladders to the scene, where two other fire companies would work to extinguish the flames. Two of the city's other fire companies: the New York Hose Company Number 1 and the Washington Steam Fire Engine Company Number 2, were made up of white residents. These two all-White companies later merged into the Washington Fire Engine Company in 1915. They soon moved into the city fire house located at the intersection of Craven Street and Scott Street. Today this location is known as the Old Beaufort Fire House and is home to the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park visitor center. By 1965, the Washington Fire Engine Company was renamed as the Beaufort Volunteer Fire Department.¹

Following the Great Fire of Beaufort in 1907, the town began rebuilding the decimated downtown area. As part of the rebuilding efforts, the city constructed a temporary firehouse for the Pioneer Ladder Company, renamed as the Pioneer Fire Company. This building was two blocks north of Saint Helena’s Anglican Church, and was a temporary firehouse until a permanent structure could be constructed. After bidding for the project, the town council allocated a sum of $550 for the construction of a small, tin-roofed engine house for the Pioneer Fire Company’s engine and hose reel.² The new building was rudimentary and remained without electricity until 1913, when the town’s Commission of Public Works installed lighting.³ From that firehouse, the Pioneers continued to respond to local emergencies. In compensation for their efforts and resource expenditures, the town council granted the fire company a few dollars per month.⁴ By 1924, the Pioneer Fire Company finally moved into their permanent home at what is now 1209 Prince Street, a larger building made of cinderblocks.⁵

A 1924 Sanborn Map of the actual firehouse at 1209 Prince Street.

The University of South Carolina

From their home on Prince Street, the Pioneer Fire Company responded to the needs of Black residents in downtown Beaufort, especially in the area known as the Northwest Quadrant. They often worked alongside the all-white fire companies.⁶ “They needed us and we needed them,” recalled Steve Brown, a member of the Pioneers in the mid-20th Century. “The White department would initiate the attack and we’d connect the hydrant and lay a hose line into their engine. If there was a two or three-story fire, we’d all get together.”⁷ Despite the cooperation, discrepancies remained. The Pioneer Fire Company used a 1939 Dodge truck acquired from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, which they converted by hand into a ladder truck to meet mission requirements. They drove that truck until 1971, when the Pioneers were given the Beaufort Fire Company’s old 1940 fire truck, which the county had replaced with a new truck.⁸ In addition to responding to fires, the Pioneers were active in the community, conducting charity drives to help the impoverished in their community.⁹

1971 newspaper photo showing the old firetruck used by the Pioneers, at the right of the photo.

The Beaufort Gazette

Noting the importance of the Pioneer Fire Company, Beaufort Fire Chief John Harriott said that the “Pioneers are an effective and valuable part of our fire fighting force in the city of Beaufort."⁹ In 1968, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Steve Brown made history by desegregating the Beaufort Fire Department as its first Black volunteer member. Then, in 1970, he made history once again by becoming the county’s first Black paid firefighter. Chief Harriot told Brown, “I’m going to hire you because of who you are and what you can do, not the color of your skin.”¹⁰ Just a few years later, in 1974, the Pioneer Fire Company was officially disbanded and its members integrated into the Beaufort Fire Department.¹¹

The story of fire protection is a crucial part of understanding the region’s history and the legacy of Reconstruction. During the 1860s through the 1890s, Black firemen saw service as a path to stable employment and to protect the community that had emerged here during Reconstruction. In the late 1800s and into the early 1900s, fire response led to widespread mapping of communities around the nation. These maps, often made by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, allow historians to map the evolution of neighborhoods and communities during Reconstruction and its aftermath, and in Beaufort, can be used to walk in the footsteps of people like those who served in the Pioneer Fire Company.

Resources

1. Gerhard Spieler, “Firemen Have Proud Past,” The Beaufort Gazette, July 5, 1974, https://www.newspapers.com/image/843148133/, and “Following the History of Beaufort’s Fire Departments,” February 12, 2006, https://www.newspapers.com/image/781788737/. “The New Engine House,” The Beaufort Gazette, September 19, 1907, https://www.newspapers.com/image/843722680/.
2. “Officers And Committees Elected By Council,” The Beaufort Gazette, February 7, 1913, https://www.newspapers.com/image/843680478/.
3. “Treasurer’s Report for April, 1910,” The Beaufort Gazette, May 12, 1910, https://www.newspapers.com/image/771338116/.
4. 1924 Beaufort, SC Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, map, accessed March 4, 2025, https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/SFMAPS/id/3791/rec/6.
5. “Annual Report,” The Beaufort Gazette, April 30, 1959, https://www.newspapers.com/image/771165303/, and “Fire Department,” The Beaufort Gazette, March 5, 1970, https://www.newspapers.com/image/843998953/.
6. Geoff Ziezulewicz, “A Desire to Fight Fires Becomes a Force for Social Advancement,” February 20, 2025, https://www.newspapers.com/image/781835628/.
7. Cheryl Graffo, “Beaufort Has Long Firefighting History,” October 18, 1998, https://www.newspapers.com/image/844001111/.
8. “Force For Social Advancement.”
9. “Force For Social Advancement,” https://www.newspapers.com/image/781835655/, and “Collecting Money for the Poor,” The Beaufort Gazette, December 25, 1969, https://www.newspapers.com/image/843943812/. “Long Firefighting History.”
10. “Fire Department,” https://www.newspapers.com/image/843998953/.
11. “Force For Social Advancement.”