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TUALATIN CENTENNIAL
January 3, 2013
to the area and set up a saw-
mill, providing the first pay-
roll. He built a company
store and a row of homes for
his family and workers.
1893
—The Congregation-
al Church was built north of
the new depot.
1895
—Winona Grange
was organized.
1900
—Winona Cemetery
was organized.
1900
—A new school was
built for both grade and
high school.
1906
— Local farmers
blew up the dam on the Tu-
alatin River.
1906
—Oregon Electric
Railroad came through,
north and south, and stores
were built around the new
depot.
1907
— John L. Smith
built a brickyard and manu-
factured bricis.
1910
—Congregational
Church burned; Methodists
built a church.
1912
—Old store was
moved east and a new brick
store was built, and tele-
phones and electricity in-
stalled.
TUALATIN
TIMELINE
Continued from page 8
Continued on page 15
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Winona Grange Band,
circa 1910.
By RAY PITZ
Pamplin Media Group
W
hile Tualatin’s modern fire
service is provided by a dis-
trict that spans more than
210 square miles, its origins
can be traced to the a small group of Tu-
alatin Volunteer Fire Department mem-
bers who gathered for an informal meet-
ing on Feb. 2, 1935, to discuss the forma-
tion of a department.
Within two years, the organization was
up and running with Bill Barngrover
elected as chief of the Tualatin Fire De-
partment (and later Tualatin Rural Fire
Protection District) in a career that would
span the next 30 years, according to the
Tualatin Historical Society’s book, “Tual-
atin Fire Protection History 1937-1989”
compiled by Yvonne Addington and a fire
history committee.
$200 borrowed from a road fund
A short time after being activated, the
new department requested a place to
house its fire trucks and a 14-foot-wide
“lean-to” was constructed on the north
side of Tualatin City Hall, which was then
located on Boones Ferry Road. Mean-
while, hoses, ladders and sirens were
purchased by using $200 borrowed from a
city road fund.
By 1942, the fire department had taken
on major defense duties as World War II
raged on and volunteer firemen were
deputized as part of the Civilian War Ser-
vice Act.
“Led by Chief Barngrover, the Tualatin
Fire Department provided 24-hour watch-
es at Tualatin City Hall,” according to the
historical society book. “(Note: City Hall
did not open for city business until 1967.)
Some of those who had not already been
called up for war service worked on the
civil defense day shift.”
Addington, who also served as Tualatin
city manager (and whose father Ted Saa-
rinen was an early volunteer fire captain)
noted in her book that when City Hall
was officially open for business, remnants
of the 1941-45 wartime night watch were
still on the walls along with bed frames,
equipment hooks and an old hand-
Where there’s smoke,
reasoning went, you
need a fire department
It all began with volunteers
RITA BARNGOVER CONOVER COLLECTION, COURTESY OF TUALATIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Tualatin Rural Fire Protection District members (from left) Floyd Berning, Dutch Maxwell, Chief Bill Barngrover, Wendell Heald and Cliff Floyd
stand in front of the fire district’s first aid car, a Chevrolet panel sedan, which was purchased in 1949. The photo was selected for the cover of
Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America book, “Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue.”