Twenty-four years after the little community was founed on the bluffs over the Trinity River, Fort Worth received its city charter from the state legislature on March 1, 1873. When the first municipal elections were held two days later Ed Terrell was elected first town marshal of Fort Worth. The city council met on March 4 and created the Fort Worth Police Department. The new department took up its duties April 10, and on April 22 the first police badge, a simple star, was approved by the council. The fledgling department began with just four appointed “deputies” in addition to the marshal. A fifth officer, Hague Tucker, an African-American, was added on April 23, tasked with policing his own people in town -- and no others.