Engine House No. 3

Engine House No. 3. . The Star State Company No. 3 organized in 1859 as one of Galveston's volunteer fire departments. The company first operated from an engine house at 2512 Church Street. In 1885, the city began to replace the various volunteer groups with a unified professional fire department. After the 1900 hurricane destroyed the Church Street Engine House, the city built this replacement at 2828 Market. Galveston-born architect George B. Stowe designed the building in the Queen Anne style, though later additions obscured its exuberant masonry details. In 1927, mayoral hopeful Jack E. Pearce planned to place Engine House No. 3 under the jurisdiction of Galveston's African American community. The proposal collapsed after newspapers reported the arrangement as a secretive political maneuver. , Thirty years later, police and fire commissioner Walter B. Rourke, Jr. decided to integrate the fire department by hiring the city's first three African American firemen: Lucious Pope, Leroy Small and Genoice Walker. Initially, the men had segregated cooking and sleeping accommodations, as well as separate fireman's pole. During the early 1960s, the station established communal living quarters as more African American men joined the department. In 1967, the city closed Engine House No. 3 and began to use the building for city offices and storage. In the timeline of decisions that led to a more integrated community in Galveston, the desegregation of Engine House No. 3 represents acknowledgment by city leaders that the increased political power of African American citizens entitled them to important roles in municipal services.