There has been a very active fire volunteer department in Waveland since 1895.  With only bucket brigades and a few wells in town, prior to the department, fires were virtually impossible to squelch.  The town board voted to buy an engine and in January 1895, LE Acker brought one for inspection; the horse-drawn engine was bought from the Howe Pump Co. for $585.  A frame fire house was built by Shelby Collings which cost $75.  Bylaws were drawn up May 13th of that year.  A bell was purchased for $4.10 in 1896.  This bell was also used as an all-is-well signal at 8 o'clock for many years.  A siren replaced the bell in 1929.  Theodore Sharpe tested it.  A motorized truck was purchased in 1920 and housed in the Parish garage.  Will Moore was chief at the time with members being: Parke Spencer, Frank Burrin, Albert Denk, Hubert Ghormley, John Parrish, Ben Canine, Leon Guy, Garrie Dillman, Harry Gardner, Ott Kolling, Dean illigan and Mort Yount.  Trucks have been added and replaced several times since.  In 1951, there were but a few volunteers, so the town board officially organized a fire department with Wes Cotton, as chief;  Forrest Coleman, assistant; James Moody, engineer; Roy Hockett, assistant engineer; Charlie Calvert,  Dean Cronkhite, Clarhud Moore and Bob Myers as hose and nozzle men.  A year later the group was officially named the Waveland Volunteer Fire Department with Fred Bazzani, chief and 23 volunteers.  Regular meetings began to help study and practice fire fighting techniques.  Today, we still appreciate an excellent volunteer  department.  Street lights appeared in the fair city about 1890.  John Dietrich was the first lamplighter who earned $6 a month for lighting, cleaning and repairing them.  In April, 1902, new acetylene lamps were purchased from a local company and installed.  These were hailed as a real wonder. The first electric street lights installed were bulbs with a flat reflector on top.  In the late 1920's, boulevard lamps were put up on Cross Street to improve both the lighting and appearance of the business section.  Lights have been replaced more than once since that time.  John A. Johnson is accredited in creating the first telephone company not only in Waveland, but Montgomery County.  Little is known about it, but in May, 1897, the Waveland Telephone Company began installing an excellent system.  Phones cost $2.50 per month.  Two doctors in town (Kelso and Kleiser) had the first phones.  The 1908 switchboard had 250 drops.  James W. Robetson took over the company in 1920 and operated in for many years. The Detchon system began in 1928 and had three operators and a lineman.  1956 was the year Bell Telphone purchased the Waveland system.  The water tower was put up in the summer of 1940 and "city water" became available that fall.  Edgar Canine painted "Waveland" on the tower. There was recent  renovation to the water and sewage system.  Although the first buildings in the town were frame and most lost to fire, many of the brick buildings which were replaced them are still in use today. When the Knights of Pythias building was erected, it was one of the largest K of P Halls in the state.  Of course, some of the more handsome buildings have been torn town to "make room for progress."  Many businesses have flourished, then gone by the wayside in our small town.  At the time of the Waveland History by Virginia Banta Sharpe, the following were listed Burrin's Drug Store (gone); C.W. Spencer Hardware; Fullenwider TV & Radio Shop; Moore's Grocery; Cook's Furniture; Harmon Grocery; Uptown Cafe (moved, name changed, but there is a present one); Myers Rug Cleaners; Sharpe Store ; Shular's Pool Room; Whitecotton Hardware; Murray's Barber Shop; Geneva's Beauty Shop; Waveland Beauty Shop; Regal Store; Hunt's Electric; Alva Thomas, Chester Heslar; Don Whitecotton; Pete France and Bill Swank all having filling stations;  Waveland Grain Elevator; Banta's Watch Shop; Brooks Barber Shop; Wave-inn Restaurant/Filling station; Raymond Moore Painter; Machledt & Servies Funeral Home; Servies Furniture Store, all but about three now extinct.  You can visit the Waveland homepage to discover the current businesses.  Also, the railroads helped the town thrive in the 1900's.  The first railroad in the community was the Logansport, Crawfordsville & Southwestern.  Locally, it was referred to as the Vandalia.  What was known as the Central Indiana Railroad extended from Waveland where it formed a junction with the Vandalia line, northeasterly through Ladoga and New Ross and on through the state, having been built in 1887.  Many area men worked to help build these railroads.  Other transporation included one known cab service (late 1909) by Harry Moody -- he met trains and took passengers to the hotel or delivered people to the train.  F.C. Yeager ran a dray service for a few years, selling to Frank Seybold.  The Good Brothers had a bus service in the early 1920's and ran busses between Waveland and Crawfordsville, then between Waveland and Indianapolis.  In 1924 they sold their C'ville run to the Ben Hur Bus Company which extended service to Lafayette and Terre Haute.  Later yet they sold the Indianapolis run, but at one time there were 8 busses a day through our little town.  Complaints from citizens of mud and dust prompted the town board to each spring oil the streets.  This continued for many years until finally the town paved the roads.  The "True American," is said to have been the first newspaper in Waveland, printed at Terre Haute and distributed here; in existence from 1851-54.  The "Waveland News" was printed by a Mr. Boswell from Ladoga but Monroe McCormick served as the Waveland correspondent.  This paper, too only lasted about 3 years. The "Waveland Enterprise," distributed here but published in Indianapolis, says it was a weekly paper with 1,000 copies printed each week. There is only one known copy of one of these papers in existence, it dated May 15, 1863.  In the 1870s a little paper was printed by two local boys, EE Foley and FF Shanks, and was called the "Cricket."  This followed in 1879 by the "Waveland Chronicle," edited and published each Saturday by Edward E. Foley, but there was also a temperance paper published by FB Rose in the mid-70's. Two other local men, Harry Talburt and Frank Foley began the "Waveland Item." (1880-81).  The "Waveland Call" was also about this time, with eggs selling for 25 cents (and scarce).  Not much is known about the "Waveland Banner," published in the late 1880's.  The "Waveland Independent" started in 1884 by John Q. Russell, and was purchased in 1886 by HM Talburt and Charles Scott.  It was purchased in 1900 by TE Huston, under which it thrived.  Many community improvements had its beginnings via Huston's editorials.  Huston retired from the paper after 40 plus years of service to the area.  The paper was purchased by William Fortune who only ran it for a short time, then selling it to a local Minister, C.N. McBrayer.  Vic Canine set type for many years, working for both men.  In 1955, Max Harvey (of Montezuma) bought the paper and published it under the name, "Tri-County News" due to the fact it covered news in three counties.  It was in existence up through the 1960's.  Thanks to these men and their forsight, much of our town's history is preserved, yet much history is still to be found.  However, we hope you enjoy this overview.
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