I had already taken pics of the oldest church in Michigan  (Ste Anne De Detroit,  you can see my pic HERE) on a previous trip to Detroit and did not plan on taking more but when I was in the neighborhood I saw the twin steeples of the church looking out over the trees and the houses and decided since I was near there why not get a few more pics. I headed over there from a different direction than last time, and that is when I saw the old firehouse sitting near the church, as if the tall steeples were watching over it, and protecting it all these years. The numbers 1897 displayed between the doors gave away the year it was built but I found out the DFD stopped using the old firehouse in 1976.  It’s still standing with its magnificent brickwork like you will never see on a new building. Looking at it, I can only imagine the firefighters going from a horse-drawn apparatus, to an early primitive motorized firetruck, and then on to a post WWII truck with the fireman riding on the back, but the station was passed by in the 70’s before it could get a new modern fire truck.

P.S. thank you to all the firefighters who answer the call for help, It takes a special kind of person to run into a burning building.

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The fire station in Manistee just earned the Guinness World Record for the oldest continuously manned fire station in the world. Manned 24-hours a day, seven-days a week since 1889.

The historical marker for the station gives a little bit of it’s history and reads:

In early October 1888, the Manistee City Council hired Frederick Hollister of Saginaw, the architect of Manistee’s principal school, to design a fire hall to replace the original station, which was constructed in 1872 – 1873 on Filer Street. Later that month the Manistee Democrat predicted that the city’s new fire hall would be “a model of convenience and usefulness.” Constructed of brick, cut-stone and French plate glass and trimmed with galvanized iron, this Romanesque Revival-style building was constructed by the local firm of Brownrigg and Reynolds at a cost of $7,516. The dome is covered with copper. The hall opened in June 1889 when Manistee’s first “fire truck,” a horse-drawn steam engine, was brought from the original hall. It is the oldest continually operated fire station in Michigan

P.S. it looks like they will have to update the historical marker from the oldest in Michigan to the oldest in the world

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I was roaming around the city of Jackson and I came across this old firehouse. I like to have an interesting story to go with my pics, but I was not able to find any information about it on the internet other than it is closed. The ENGINE HOUSE No. 4 sign over the garage doors is the only thing I know about it. I can only imagine over the years many firefighters have gone on runs to save lives and property. It now stands empty and forgotten, I guess that is why I was compelled to stop and take a pic.

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