The Historic Firehouses of Louisville is a Thematic Resource (TR) Multiple Property Submission (MPS) on the National Register of Historic Places. The submission represents 18 historic fire stations, located in Louisville, Kentucky, which were added to the National Register in 1980–81 due to their historical and architectural merits.Hedgepeth, Marty. , accessed December 10, 2011

History of firefighting in Louisville

Louisville's first fire brigades were established in 1780, two years after the city's creation. The first firehouses 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. Many of the early firehouses were demolished due to

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

; 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 Phoenix Hill is a neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky just east of Downtown. Its boundaries are Market Street to the North, Preston Street to the West, Broadway to the South, and Baxter Avenue to the East. The Phoenix Hill neighborhood, settled ...

into a firehouse in 1869. 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)). Formed on October 7, 1871, as the Louisville Steam Engine Co. 7, Engine Company 7, at 6th & York Streets, is the oldest continuously operated firehouse in the United States. Due to budget concerns, it is scheduled to close in January 2009, in hopes to save $543,000 from the city's budget.Halladay, Jessie
Historic Louisville firehouse faces final call
'' The Courier-Journal'' January 7, 2009, accessed December 10, 2011 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 Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

in style, as it was designed by the McDonald Brothers, who also designed the

Kentucky National Bank Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

and Norton's Warehouse buildings in downtown Louisville. The current fire department headquarters, at 1135 W. Jefferson Street (just outside downtown Louisville), was built in 1936 by the

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing *Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance Ana ...

. This limestone edifice is one of the few buildings in Louisville built in the Art Deco style. When the fire department moved out, the former headquarters became home to the police traffic bureau and eventually became the

Louisville Sinking Fund Building The Sinking Fund Building, also known as Firehouse No. 2, is an historic building in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Located on Jefferson Street between Louisville Metro Police Headquarters and the Louisville City Hall Annex building, it is part o ...

Firehouses

References

External links

Steam Engine Co. #7's MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Historic Firehouses Of Louisville National Register of Historic Places in Louisville, Kentucky Defunct fire stations in Kentucky Fire stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky Lists of buildings and structures in Kentucky Firefighting-related lists Lists of government buildings in the United States Government of Louisville, Kentucky

History of firefighting in Louisville

Firehouses

See also

References

External links