City of Perry history

The first settlement in Perry Township was made by Josiah Purdy in the fall of 1836, upon land which had been entered for him by a Mr.

In 1850, William P. Laing came to Perry and the following year opened the first store in the township.

The following year, November 30, 1865, these worthy people reached Perry Centre and immediately established a home and the doctor began the practice of his profession.

The first Perry Hotel opened in 1870 to serve travelers along a stagecoach route.

The first brick school building in Box Elder County was built in Three Mile Creek in 1874

The first passenger train ran over the road-bed on the first day of February 1877.

When the Grand Trunk Railroad was put through, leaving their little burg one mile to the south, the Doctor conceived the idea of transferring his residence and business interests to this point and in 1879 Doctor Marshall began the exodus of Perry Centre to the railroad or new Perry.

He erected his house in 1880, and at that time there was no street opened past his house.

Thaddeus was born July 5, 1884 at Morrice, Mich.

The first publication was October 1, 1886.

South of the Perry land office, September 22, 1893(8415, A. J. Barash Collection, OHS).

The name of Three Mile Creek was changed to Perry City in May of 1898 in honor of O.A. Perry who had served as an LDS Bishop for almost 20 years.

The, now, Heritage Theatre was originally used as a church meeting house and was built in 1899

It was late 1901 when he built, tested, tore down, and rebuilt vehicles, a pattern he followed through his long career.

After his graduation from high school in 1902, Thad H. Halsted became a “printers devil” under the tutorship of William Hullinger.

In March 1903, he had his first experience with type-setting.

He served as president pro tempore of the 1906 Constitutional Convention and was the first to occupy the governor's mansion.

Since its admission in 1907 as the 46th state of the union, however, Oklahoma has achieved an integration of its Native American citizens into modern economic and social life that probably is unmatched by any other state.

They were Thomas Mason Sr., Asa Woodard, Lott Townsley, Rudolf Shilling, Fred Shilling, Rupert Day, and Miller Day. It is said that the first volunteer department was formed in 1910 and that it had seven members.

In 1911, fire brigade volunteers included Asa Woodard, Rupert Clay, Clyde Day, Eby Holtzclaw, Lott Townlsey, Sam Hemmingway, Ralph Miller, Miller Edwards, Harper Short, Carey Andrew, Gordon Rogers, Fred Shilling, and Rudolph Shilling.

The spread of new technology into rural Houston County facilitated the formation of downtown Perry, particularly with the first electric lighting in 1912.

August 7, 1913, the paper published an article about “Should Perry have water works?” On August 14, an article appeared suggesting $15,000 be raised for a water works system.

Drilling for the well was started that fall and by February 1914, they had found a good well of water.

The Liberty Theater also opened up in 1920.

One of the most successful of these was the Perry Opera House, which operated until 1921 when the building was sold for an automobile repair shop.

In June of 1927 the village purchased a fine, 5HP fire siren, which could be heard clearly as far away as the Village of Morrice.

In 1936 the Michigan Hybrid Seed Corn Company purchased the long vacant Perry Glove and Mitten Factory and opened their business here.

Allen D. Fitchett, "History of Noble County, Oklahoma" (M.A. thesis, Colorado State College, 1938).

In 1943, under the leadership of Chief Cecil Moody and the city council, the department was brought up to full strength and reorganized into a highly efficient department.

A number of newspapers have informed the community, including the turn-of-the-century Noble County Sentinel and the Daily Democrat and the Daily Journal from 1946 into the twenty-first century.

The department purchased its third fire truck, a 1952 Peter Pirsch Pumper on a Ford F-7 Chassis with a pump capable of supplying 750 gallons per minute, a 500-gallon tank, and all equipment that was needed to supply it.

In 1953, the department moved to the Commerce Street location, along with city hall, into the new building built there.

They suffered a bad fire in 1960 but built a fine new plant and are still in operation. (Thermogas currently has only storage at the Perry location).

The department purchased its fourth fire truck, a 1962 Peter Pirsch on a Ford C-800 Chassis, also complete with a 500-gallon tank and the ability to pump 750 gallons of water per minute.

In 1963, the department hired its first full-time firemen.

These investments in the public infrastructure, combined with local incentives have begun to encourage the growth of new businesses in Perry. It was created in 1968 for Perry’s 75 Year Diamond Jubilee.

New hiring’s continued with Marion Fuller (’66), Roger Crumpton (’68), Harris McIntyre (’69), Earl Green and Johnny Langston (’70). In 1970, Sirah Lawhorn became the first full-time Fire Chief of the Perry Fire Department.

In 1972, the department purchased its fifth fire truck.

Chief Sirah Lawhorn retired in 1980, and then firefighter Gary Hamlin became the second full-time fire chief, and the youngest fire chief in the State of Georgia at the age of twenty-four.

In 1984, Chief Hamlin initiated the first responder program.

Noble County Genealogical Society, History of Noble County, Oklahoma, Volume 1 (Norman, Okla.: Privately printed, 1987).

In 1989, the department purchased its first mini pumper/rescue truck.

Perry continued to steadily grow through 1990 buoyed by industries like Frito Lay, Perdue Farms, and Interfor.

In 1991, the Houston County Emergency Services E-911 went on line throughout the county.

In 1996, Chief Hamlin along with city businessman Riley Young, started a fund-raiser to purchase the department a Cairns I.R.I.S. system.

In 1997, the department purchased its first aerial truck.

Under his tenure, the department added several new pumping apparatus, to include a new platform ladder truck capable of reaching heights of 100 feet and pumping over 2000 gallons of water per minute.

Perry secured the old National Guard Armory building in 2003 for redevelopment into the Perry Arts Center.

In 2004, then fire chief Gary Hamlin resigned from his position.

The department would search for nearly a year until the hiring of Freddy Howell in 2005.

In September 2006, director Potter hired fire chief Joel Gray to lead the department.

Years later in 2008, this vehicle was found abandoned in a junkyard and over a two-year span was completely restored by a group of firefighters.

Modern techniques were introduced, and in 2009, the department would separate, and the department of public safety would be disbanded.

In 2013, the idea of a fire fee was developed and was enacted.

The department would continue to search for a new chief until the hiring of chief Lee Parker was in October 2016.