Fire Houses Archives - Page 2 of 3

The Old Firehouse

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Fire Houses .

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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The Old Hamburg Fire Station

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Fire Houses, Historic Places .

Traveling around the backroads north of Ann Arbor I went through the town of Hamburg and I could not miss the bright red fire station in the center of town.

In 1837 The Town of Hamburg Michigan southwest of Brighton was named after Hamburg Germany and a Township hall was constructed. The building stood for over 100 years and on a cold December day in 1954 John Moore who took care of the hall lit the oil burning stove to warm it up and it exploded. John Moore was fatally burned and died from the explosion. A fire truck was sent from Brighton and broke down on the way to Hamburg. The townspeople were able to get the fire under control but decided they needed their own fire department instead of relying on surrounding cities for help.

P.S. Thank you to all the firefighters, policemen and first responders who work over the holiday season.

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Holland’s Grand Old City Hall and Fire House

Posted on March 18, 2017 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Fire Houses, Michigan Historical Markers .

Standing at the east end of downtown Holland’s shopping district, is the old city hall and Firehouse. I wonder how many people notice this stately old building while they are out shopping or enjoying a meal at one of the pubs. I know it’s not forgotten for there’s a historical marker out front recalling its history. The sign says

The city of Holland bought this lot in 1882, and contractor James Huntley began construction of a fire hall the next year. Completed in 1884, the building housed Holland’s city offices and library until 1912 and served as a fire hall until 1978. During World War II the west annex was built. In 1983 the firehouse was rehabilitated for use as office space. Grooves in the engine house floor that provided traction for the horses have been filled, and the doors, once replaced to accommodate trucks have been restored.

On March 8, 1884, some 150 people attended the Columbia Fire Engine Company’s oyster supper celebration honoring Holland’s new city hall and firehouse. The solid brick building reflects the desire for “fire proof” construction following the 1871 fire that devastated the city. The city clerk and a special committee consulted with the Grand Rapids firm of Robinson and Barnaby, and designed the structure with a tower to accommodate drying fifty-foot unfolded fire hoses. Originally a cupola topped the tower.

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The Old Firehouse On the Northeast Side

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Fire Houses .

The old firehouse on Mount Elliott was the oldest operating firehouse in Detroit when it closed in 2012 and the city put it up for sale. It’s a beautiful old two story firehouse built in 1893, and designed by famed architect Gorge Mason, who designed the Masonic Temple, and the Ransom Gillis House in Detroit. I can only imagine all the emergency runs the firefighters went on over the years, from horses to the massive fire engines they have today.

P.S. Thank you to all the first responders working over the holidays and every day.

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The Continental Fire Company

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Fire Houses, upper peninsula .

The Continental Fire Company organized in 1860 in Houghton built their new fire hall in 1883 and occupied the basement, which housed horses, and the main floor, which stored fire engines. Village offices were on the second floor. The Michigan Mining School, now Michigan Technological University, held its first classes on the second floor and in the basement from 1886 through May 1889. In the early 1900s, the building was extended to the north to store more oats and hay for the horses. In 1916, an addition was built on the western side to store two more fire engines.

The city moved its offices out of the fire hall in the 1930s. On August 5, 1966, a bronze plaque was unveiled commemorating the building as the original home of the university. In 1974, the fire department moved to a new, more centrally located fire hall along Sharon Avenue in order to accommodate larger modern equipment. The fire bell was removed in October 1975 and transferred to the new location.

The fire hall was listed as a Michigan State Historic Site on August 6, 1976.In 1978, the university purchased the building from the city to use as storage.It was sold in 2010 to a private group who renovated it into an entertainment venue, called the Continental Fire Co., which opened in February 2012.

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The Old Engine 4 Firehouse in Detroit

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Fire Houses .

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 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 it’s 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 Lost and Lonley Chicago Fireboat Joseph Medill

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Fire Houses, Forgotten Places .

The Chicago Fireboat Engine No. 37 was name in honor of Chicago mayor, and newspaper editor, Joseph Medill. The 92 foot long fireboat was launched in 1949, and designed to get under the bridges of downtown Chicago. The boat was retired from service sometimes after 1986 and in the early 2000s the boat had been gutted and is now setting in a field overlooking Lake Michigan in Escanaba. How a boat from Chicago ended up in Escenaba I don’t know, but it sure looks sad just sitting on land stripped of all its hardware and rusting away.

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The Unbelievable Story Of Engine House No. 5

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Fire Houses .

Built in 1880 in Grand Rapids, on the bank of the Grand River, Engine House No. 5 served the community with a horse-drawn steam pumper and a hose cart. At the time of her construction, she gleamed in white brick with red courses, towered and turreted in almost Byzantine splendor. When it was built, horse-drawn pumpers would race to the fires eventually the horses were replaced with motorized fire trucks. Sadly on the station’s 100th birthday in 1980, she was slated to be torn down. By demolition time, her brick had been painted Tuscan red, most of her decoration covered over with plaster, and her usefulness was at an end. But this once-noble structure wasn’t leveled by a wrecking ball; rather, it was taken apart brick by brick and moved. Today, it rests-restored to her Victorian splendor-in the town of Allendale west of Grand Rapids, and is the Engine House #5 Museum

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The Historic Manistee Fire Hall – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Fire Houses .

In early October 1888, the Manistee City Council hired Frederick Hollister of Saginaw, the architect of Manistee’s principle 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

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The Majestic City Hall and the Propeller at Lake Linden.

Posted on September 27, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Fire Houses, Historic Places, upper peninsula .

The village of Lake Linden in the Keweenaw Peninsula suffered a devastating fire in May 1887, which affected 75% of the structures. Although the frame village hall survived, city fathers believed that a new fireproof structure with space for a fire station would be in the best interests of the community.In 1901, the village asked architects for designs, and chose one submitted by Charles K. Shand of Calumet. The Hall was built by a local contractor, L. F. Ursin, and opened in 1902, serving as village offices, fire station, polling place, and public meeting hall.

A propeller from the Lady Be Good, an American B-24 Liberator lost in the Libyan Desert in April 1943, is on display in front of the village hall. Crewmember T/Sgt. Robert E. LaMotte of Lake Linden was a radio operator aboard the aircraft. His remains were found in the desert in 1960.

Lady Be Good was an USAAF B-24D Liberator that mysteriously disappeared without trace on its first combat mission during World War II. The plane, from 376th Bomb Group, had been on a bombing raid to Naples on April 4, 1943 when it was lost. Although the aircraft was thought to have crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, with the loss of its nine-man crew, it was eventually found 440 mi inland in the Libyan Desert in 1958. The remains of all but one of its crew have been recovered.

It was accidentally discovered by an oil exploration team from BP in 1958. Investigations concluded the crew failed to realize they had overflown their air base in a sandstorm possibly assuming the moonlight reflecting over the wavy sand dunes that they were still flying over sea. After continuing to fly south into the desert for many hours well beyond their ETA, they bailed out when the plane’s fuel ran out. The survivors then died in the desert trying to walk to safety.

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