On October 17th, 1876, when city airs were assumed, an engine company was organized, of which Capt. M. B. Loyd was president. He was also the first president of the Fort Worth Fire Department, which was organized after the second company came into existence, and was the accredited delegate to the meeting of the State Fire Department. Other companies followed as the necessity arose and Fort Worth long enjoyed the reputation of having the finest department in the State. When the city took over the management of the fire department and put the men on the payroll, the volunteers were given preference over all applicants and some of them are in service at this writing. When it became a paid fire department, Mr. N. H. Lassiter was the President, and the last meeting was a most affecting occasion. Many of the old “fire-fighters” were opposed to disbanding the volunteer service and laid down the responsibility with great reluctance. NEWSPAPERS. “’Twere long to tell what steeds gave o’er, As swept the hunt through Campus-more.” It would be an almost endless task and one the writer will not essay to tell the history of the newspapers of this city. It has been the graveyard of the hopes and aspirations of ambitious men, who without capital, and oft times without experience, have undertaken the work of furnishing an unappreciative public with a newspaper in Fort Worth. It was on March 7th, 1860, that Fort Worth had its first paper. It was started by a man by the name of Cleveland and was called the Enterprise. How long it continued, and what became of it the writer has been unable the ascertain. The second attempt was made in October, 1871, when Maj. K. M. VanZandt, John Hanna, W. H. Overton, Capt. Sam Evans and Junius W. Smith bought from Maj. J. J. Jarvis the press and material of a paper at Quitman in Wood county and moved here and started the Fort Worth Democrat. In October, 1872, they sold it to Capt. B. B. Paddock, who assumed management and direction of the paper on the 1st day of January, 1873. He continued the publication until June 30th, 1882, when it was merged with the Live Stock Journal, owned by George B. Loving, and changed to the Fort Worth Gazette, which during its continuance was confessedly the best paper ever printed in this State.