Red Hot Hose Company

The obituary of William J. Howell, fireman.

Wilson Daily Times, 10 November 1939.

William J. Howell was an early member of the Red Hot Hose Company, Wilson’s African-American volunteer fire department.

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In the 1922 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Howell Wm J lab 525 Stemmery 

In the 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Howell Wm J lab 525 Stemmery 

On 8 March 1929, W.J. Howell, 58, married Henrietta King, 50, in Wilson. Baptist minister B.F. Jordan performed the ceremony in the presence of George W. Coppedge, Eva M. Hines, and Willie Faulkland.

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Howell Wm J lab Hackney Wagon Co 106 W Gold

William J. Howell died 8 November 1939 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 67 years old; was born in Cumberland County, N.C., to Rachel Barnes; was married to Henrietta Howell; worked as a laborer; and lived at 517 Church Street.

W.C.P.L. presents “Wilson County’s African American Firefighters 1893-1965.”

I cannot say enough in praise of Wilson County Public Library and its incredible cadre of dedicated librarians. WCPL offers an incredible array of services and steadfastly walks the walk of inclusion, holding space for the stories of all of us.

This month, local history librarian Tammy Medlin produced an information-packed segment on the histories of our favorite Red Hot Hose Company and the East Nash Volunteer Fire Department.

Please support your local library — here’s how. 

A new reel house for the Red Hots.

Wilson Advance, 19 January 1899.

Robert L. Wyatt Sr., a well-to-do tinsmith and town commissioner, died in 1893, but his adult children remained in his house on Spring Street. I do not know the exact location of the Red Hots’ new reel house, but the reference to proximity to the stemmeries suggests that it was west of Nash Street toward South Street. (With the burgeoning tobacco trade, this area would soon become heavily industrial, but in the 1890s it was home to several large houses.) However, neither the 1897 nor 1903 Sanborn fire insurance map reveals anything that looks like a reel house.

The newly opened Kinsey Female Seminary was at Whitehead and Lee Streets at what was then the northwestern edge of residential settlement in Wilson.

Colored firemen seek a racing reel.

A regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Wilson was held in the Mayor’s office, August 1, 1900.

…

The Colored Hose Reel Company made an application for a racing Reel and for an appropriation to assist them in attending the Colored Firemen Association.

It was moved and carried that the Town purchase a racing Reel for its Fire Departments and lend it to the Companies and pay one half of their expense to the Firemen Association.

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Minutes of City Council, Wilson, North Carolina, transcribed in bound volumes shelved at Wilson County Public Library, Wilson.

One hand reel.

The first page of the 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map contains a paragraph detailing the city’s fire protection. West of the tracks the fire department utilized horse-drawn equipment, including a steam fire engine, a hook and ladder truck with extension ladders, and 2500 feet of hose. East of the tracks, in “Colored Section” covering roughly sections 11, 12, most of 13, 22, and 23, there was one hand reel with 300 feet of hose — operated by the famous Red Hots.