1900 to 1949

The earliest records of the Cornelius Fire Department show an organization date of November 6, 1912. At that time the equipment consisted of a hose cart and a ladder wagon, both hand-drawn. Alarms were sounded by a bell in the tower of the City Hall. F.H. Sholes was the first Fire Chief from 1912 to 1917 and had 22 members. Marion Tibbits is shown as succeeding Chief from 1917 until 1929.

Records were incomplete until a Charter meeting in 1929, after which minutes of the meetings were kept. At that time Thomas Sholes was elected Fire Chief and served until 1934. A siren replaced the alarm bell and a Packard V-12 cylinder car converted into a fire engine replaced the hose cart. This pumper was removed from service in 1943.

In 1930 the firefighters began the custom of an annual dance that was later held on St. Patrick's Day and became the St. Patrick's Day Annual Fireman's Ball. The Buckeye Hall was the scene of many of these dances and then moved to the school gymnasium, the Annual Ball was discontinued in 1966.

In April 1931, the Department purchased a Graham Brothers truck for $300 and rebuilt it into a fire engine for an additional $222. This was to protect the rural area around Cornelius and operated on a subscription basis by the Fire Department. This was one of the very first fire engines in the State of Oregon designed with a 480-gallon booster tank and a 90 G.P.M. power take-off driven pump for fighting grass fires as well as structural type fires. This engine was retired from service in 1964 after 33 years of service.

In 1934 L.A. Jackson was elected Fire Chief upon the resignation of Thomas Sholes and Chief Jackson served as Chief until his resignation in 1950. Gloyd L. Hall was appointed Fire Chief in January 1950 and served until September 1950. Gene Tasker took over as Fire Chief until 1957 and Lawrence Herb served as Fire Chief from 1957 until 1975. Ernie Hall, the son of former chief Gloyd L. Hall, served as fire chief from 1975 to 1980. The current fire chief, Chris Asanovic, was appointed 'interim chief' in October 1980, confirmed in January 1981, and serves in this position today with the most tenure.

In 1936 the Firemen's Ladies Auxiliary formed and functioned for a considerable number of years, long before there was an all-night restaurant in the city. They were certainly a welcome sight when they served lunches at night fires and at the Department meetings.

In 1943 the Department purchased a Ford truck chassis and built it into a fire engine with the 480-gallon booster tank removed from the Graham Brothers unit. With the addition of a 150 GPM pump, this unit was designed for use in the rural area around the City of Cornelius. This unit later had a 500 GPM pump installed, which was the first-rated pumping unit for the City of Cornelius. This Unit carried 2 1/2-inch and 1 1/2-inch hoses, ladders, and compartments for various small tools. This unit served the Department until 1966 when it was sold to another fire department for $1,000.

Until 1946, the Department served the rural area around Cornelius on a subscription basis, which did not prove very successful. In that year the area formed the Cornelius Rural Fire Protection District under the Laws of the State of Oregon and the District entered into a contract with the City for fire protection. The District consists of 43 square miles lying mostly to the South, East and North of the City. Until this time the Department had very little connection with the City of Cornelius government. The Fire Department owned the equipment and the department was operated by a group of volunteer firefighters furnishing protection to the city and rural area at no profit to the firefighters. Under the new contract, all equipment transferred ownership to the City of Cornelius and the fire department became a political subdivision of the City. Funds for the maintenance and replacement of equipment are now budgeted from taxes and the City Council appoints the Fire Chief and approves all expenditures.