Before becoming a municipality Sugar Land relied on a volunteer fire department. The Power Plant in the refinery had a steam whistle which blew 'coded signals' to alert the volunteers where a fire was located. I assume some volunteers gathered at the fire house in front of the refinery to drive the fire trucks to the scene, while others drove directly to the location from their homes. Maybe an old timer can set me straight on that.
Anyway, here is a list of the signals indicating various districts of the town. These signals also appeared in the Sugar Land telephone directories. Virtually everyone had them memorized, so they weren't all that necessary.
It's not listed here, but there was a signal for prison escapes. I assume Imperial Blvd. was included in the Gin Group signal. I also assume Down Town Residences were the houses in what is the north section of present-day Brookside near Highway-90A.
