The Omro Village Hall and Engine House, built in 1896, was the first centralized municipal building in Omro, Wisconsin, and the seat of local government for 70 years. In 1997 it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

for its intact Late

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian w ...

and its role in the community. With . The first permanent settler at what would become Omro was Edward West, in 1845. By 1848 he had been joined by dozens of other settlers - mostly farmers. Sawmills on the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

followed shortly, and in 1849 the village of Omro was platted. In 1857 the village was chartered. More businesses started, and even more after the railroad arrived in 1861. By 1891, Omro's population was 1600. In that year the village trustees created a fire department, buying a horse-drawn fire engine and two hand-pulled hose carts. This expensive equipment needed protection, so the trustees bought a small frame building to serve as Omro's first fire engine house. At that early date, all the village offices were scattered around town. A few years later, in 1895, the village board decided to construct a better building "for the use of the fire department, etc." Local builder and architect Fred Root proposed a design in February, 1896. Bids were taken, and by July the building was usable. Thomas Thompson was the

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

contractor and Stanton, Lillicrap and Root were carpentry contractors. The hall was built for $5000. The building sits on a cut stone foundation, with walls of pink brick rising two stories to a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thu ...

, which is covered in the original standing seam metal. Above the main block a large square tower rises another two stories, incorporating a four-faced Seth Thomas clock and an open belfry. The belfry holds the original 900-pound bronze fire bell. The vertical emphasis, the asymmetrical massing, and the variety of surface textures are typical elements of Queen Anne architectural style. Inside, the garage doors led to an engine room on the first floor, where the fire department stored its equipment. To the west, the front room originally housed the village jail, but later the public library. A straight stairway leads to the second floor, which is divided into three rooms. One was the office of the

village clerk A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

, containing a walk-in vault which protected the clerk's papers. The 1896 village hall and engine house was used until 1966, when most of its functions moved to the Omro Theatre building. After that, some wanted to demolish the building to create parking spaces, but that was rejected in a referendum. Instead the building housed some civic organizations until 1981. Since then it has been leased to the Omro Area Historical Society and serves as a museum.

References

{{coord, 44, 02, 21.3, N, 88, 44, 35.5, W, type:landmark_region:US-WI, display=title Fire stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Winnebago County, Wisconsin Italianate architecture in Wisconsin Brick buildings and structures in Wisconsin Buildings and structures completed in 1896