Hose Station No. 4 is located in the Village of East Davenport in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

, United States. It is a contributing property of the Davenport Village Historic District that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. The fire station was individually listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 1993. (Click on "Historic Preservation Commission" and then click on "Davenport Register of Historic Properties and Local Landmarks.") It is one of two old fire stations on the east side of the city that are still in existence. The other one is Hose Station No. 3. The building sits adjacent to Lindsay Park and now houses the International Fire Museum.

History

The first group of volunteer firefighters in Davenport were organized in 1856 and called the Independent Fire Engine and Hose Company. The city's first firehouse, Hose Station No. 1, was built on Perry Street in 1877 for the Fire King Engine 2nd Hose Company. In the first decades of the 20th-century, the city built other small hose stations throughout the city such as Hose Station No. 4. The Davenport Fire Antique & Restoration Society was formed by four members of the Davenport Fire Department in 1984. They acquired Hose Station No. 4 and opened the museum in 1986. The museum contains artifacts and photographs pertaining to firefighting throughout the world. It includes a 1951 Mack pumper from Riverdale, Iowa.

Architecture

The station was designed in the Italianate style. It features a rectangular plan, hipped roof covered in tile and a short tower in the back where the hoses dried. The red brick exterior features

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

ed corners in brick. A single pair of fire-house doors, behind which the firefighting equipment was stored, fronted Eleventh Street. The pedestrian entrance was along the side of the building. Two large rectangular windows are above the fire-house doors and a

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

is on the roof above the main façade.

References

External links

International Fire Museum
{{Historic Davenport structures Historic district contributing properties in Iowa Fire stations completed in 1931 Italianate architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Davenport, Iowa Museums in Davenport, Iowa Fire stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Defunct fire stations in Iowa Davenport Register of Historic Properties Firefighting museums in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Scott County, Iowa