Historic Firehouses of Louisville

The Historic Firehouses of Louisville was a Multiple Property Submission for the National Register of Historic Places. These historic fire stations, located in Louisville, Kentucky, were seventeen in total, and were added to the National Register due to their historical and architectural merits. [Hedgepeth, Marty. [http://www.nr.nps.gov/iwisapi/explorer.dll?IWS_SCHEMA=Cover&IWS_LOGIN=1&IWS_REPORT=100000008 Historic Firehouses of Louisville TR Nomination Form] ]

The first fire brigades in Louisville were in 1780, two years after the city's creation, and consisted of fire brigades. The first firehouses in Louisville were volunteer fire departments scattered throughout the city, but on June 1, 1858 the city of Louisville took control, and replaced the hand engines with five steam engines and volunteers with paid staff. There were initially three fire stations, 65 professional firefighters, and 23 horses. [Hedgepeth] [ [http://www.louisvilleky.gov/LouisvilleFire/ LouisvilleKy.gov - Louisville Fire - Home Page ] ] [ [http://www.louisvilleky.gov/LouisvilleFire/LFD_History_Full_Text.htm LouisvilleKy.gov - Louisville Fire - LFD History Full Text ] ]

Many of the early firehouses were destroyed due to urban renewal; the oldest firehouse still standing was originally built as St. John's Church in 1848, but the city turned the two-story edifice of brick and cast iron located in Phoenix Hill into a firehouse in 1869. [Hedgepeth] Three additional remaining firehouses were built in the 1870s and 1880s (Steam Engine Co. #7 in Limerick (1871), Steam Engine Co. #10 in Butchertown (1873), and the Rogers Street Firehouse in Irish Hill (1883)). Steam Engine Co. #7 is the oldest that is still being used as a firehouse. [Hedgepeth] [ [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=84651904 MySpace.com - Engine Company 7 - 37 - Garçon - LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - www.myspace.com/louisville_engine7 ] ]

The most prominent of the firehouses built in the 1890s was the Fire Department Headquarters built in Downtown Louisville at 617 W. Jefferson Street in 1891. It is Richardsonian Romanesque in style, as it was built by the McDonald Brothers, who also made the Kentucky National Bank and Norton's Warehouse buildings in downtown Louisville. [Hedgepeth]

The current fire department headquarters, at 1135 W. Jefferson Street (just outside downtown Louisville), was built in 1936 by the WPA. This limestone edifice is one of the few buildings in Louisville built in the Art Deco style. [Hedgepeth]

ee also

*Louisville Division of Fire

References

* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=84651904 Steam Engine Co. #7's MySpace page]