Sound the Alarm!
New Book Celebrates
‘St. Louis Fire Stations’
By Karen Cernich Dickhut
With fire trucks, the wail of the siren and the sight of flashing lights easily capture and hold people’s attention. It’s what they are designed to do.
The fire stations where the trucks are kept get less recognition. Until now.
A new book by Robert Pauly, curator of the St. Louis Fire Department Museum, and Dennis Maag, a captain at the Mehlville Fire Protection District with nearly 40 years of experience, outlines the history of the historic St. Louis Fire Department through photos of its many stations, including three that were built in the 1800s and nine others that are more than 100 years old — all 11 are still in use today:
Station 4 at 4425 South Compton — Built in 1906.Station 6 at 5747 Manchester — Built in 1905.Station 10 at 4161 Kennerly — Built in 1908.Station 12 at 5214 West Florissant — Built in 1909.Station 13 at 1400 Shawmut — Built in 1909.Station 14 at 3523 Magnolia — Built in 1909.Station 26 at 4520 Margaretta — Built in 1917.Station 32 at 3500 South Grand — Built in 1899.Station 33 at 8300 North Broadway — Built in 1909.Station 34 at 8227 South Broadway — Built in 1895. This is St. Louis’ oldest continuously operating stationStation 35 at 5450 Arsenal — Built in 1895. This station opened several months before Station 34 but was closed for remodeling from 1959 to 1960.
Published by St. Louis-based Reedy Press, “St. Louis Fire Stations” features hundreds of photos, many from Pauly’s private collection showing the original stations, how they looked in the 1960s and 70s, and current photos showing how the stations look today.
Some of the photos of the original stations have rarely, if ever, been seen, Pauly said.
He has had an affection for the city’s fire stations since he was a boy in the early 1960s and met members of Engine Company 8 at a school picnic at the Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in North St. Louis. He began collecting old photos of the stations and in recent years it became a dream to compile that collection into a book to share and celebrate the history with the rest of the St. Louis metro area.
Both Pauly and Maag are donating their profits from the book to the St. Louis BackStoppers Inc., a nonprofit organization that takes care of (financially and otherwise) the families of first responders killed in the line of duty.
“I think that’s a nice tribute to them,” Pauly said.
Built in 1895, Station 34 at 8227 South Broadway is St. Louis’ oldest
continuously operating fire station. Below is how the station looks today.
From Volunteer to Present Day
The book outlines the history of the St. Louis Fire Department through photos of its stations, from its beginning as a volunteer department up through present day. It highlights unique aspects of the stations, how they were built and the companies who were assigned there.
Maag has a new appreciation for St. Louis’ fire stations after working on the book with Pauly, and he is amazed by the department administration’s ability to keep its historic stations functional in a modern world.
“We’re talking about stations built before there were motorized vehicles,” Maag remarked. “They were built for horses. If you think about it, it’s fascinating that the fire department and the administration is able to get today’s trucks in those stations, knowing they weren’t designed for trucks. They were designed for horses and carriages.”
The book is laid out chronologically, which allows readers to really pay attention to how the stations were modified over the years to accommodate changes in the fire service.
“You can see how there have been modifications to door openings and things along those lines to accommodate the apparatus as they have gotten taller,” Maag said. “In some cases, they’ve had to widen doorways or increase the height.”
Station 8 at the corner of Hyde Park actually had a small basement, which was partly filled so the main floor could be lowered to make room for the taller apparatus.
“Something else people don’t think about — There weren’t microwaves, computers or HVAC systems when these stations were built,” Maag noted. “I think it really is a tribute to the city and the administration that they’ve been able to keep these buildings running with modern amenities. To me, it’s remarkable.”
Maag suspects that the reason the city has kept and modified its historic stations is more about dollars and cents than any nostalgia or love of history.
“If you look at the density of things in St. Louis, to find a lot big enough to accommodate a fire station in what are usually residential neighborhoods, you’re going to have to knock down three, four or five lots and the cost associated with securing the property and new construction is crazy,” he said. “Any more, you’re talking millions of dollars to rebuild things. I would call it cash strapped and land locked. There’s just not a lot of space to do this.”
‘Fascinated by the Architecture’
Station 13 at 1400 Shawmut Place was built in 1909. The photo below shows how it looks today.
Pauly doesn’t have to think long to name a favorite St. Louis fire station. Of those currently in operation, he’s partial to No. 13 because of its architecture.
“Quite a few of the stations before the modern ones were built were very ornate,” he said. “And 13 has kept its original appearance all this time. Of all the current stations, that’s one of the most attractive.
“The old 8 was neat too,” he said. “The original Station 8 at the corner of Hyde Park and Salisbury Street. It was very interesting looking . . . I’ve always enjoyed all the older fire houses.”
Pauly used to hang out at the current Station 8 (built on the same location as the Old Station 8) in the ’60s and ’70s because he lived closed by and could walk there. He also visited Station 6, which has been razed, quite often.
“I had a small Brownie camera that I used to take photos of the apparatus and the fire houses, and I was just fascinated by the architecture of a lot of the older buildings,” Pauly said.
Station 13 as it looks today.
Horse Hospital and Other Interesting Details
Page 75 of “St. Louis Fire Stations” pays tribute to the horse hospital the department once operated. The building looked like a fire house, but the stonework at the top actually included a three-dimensional horse head.
Back in the day when horses were the apparatus used by the St. Louis Fire Department, the department operated a horse hospital. Notice the horse head in the stonework at the top of the building.
“They would take care of horses when they were ill, shoe the horse and provide their general care,” Maag said. “Much like today’s fire departments keep reserve fire trucks, the department back then kept horses in reserve if one got sick and they had to take it in (to the hospital).”
Maag pointed out a few other interesting details from the book:
The St. Louis Fire Department built a temporary station in Forest Park for the 1904 World’s Fair. They knew people would be coming from all over the world, and fire protection would be an issue, so they operated from one station there and had a couple of hose carts situated around the fairgrounds as well.
Many of St. Louis’ fire stations have park-style benches out front where the firefighters have been sitting and interacting with the neighborhood residents for generations.
“If you look and compare the old photos Bob took in the ’60s, the same benches are there. It’s cool to me that they are part of the neighborhood,” Maag remarked.
At its height in 1926, St. Louis operated 56 stations. The department currently has 30. That reduced number of stations is not the result of having fewer calls — call volume today is actually much higher, Maag said. It’s a reflection of the improved response time that came about when the department went to motorized vehicles instead of horses, he said. “That’s when they started seeing fire stations close down, after the motorization was complete in 1927,” Maag said, noting in the book, Pauly talks about the station that had the last run with horses in 1927, as well as the names of the horses and what they did.
Some of those fire stations that were closed are still standing even though they aren’t being used by firefighters. In a chapter dubbed “The Survivors,” Pauly and Maag celebrate 12 of these historic structures. Maag’s favorite “Survivor” stands behind the Hodak’s family restaurant at the intersection of Gravois and McNair Avenues. “It was built in 1874, and it’s a private residence now.”
Many people may not realize this, but St. Louis is the second oldest paid fire department in the country. Established in 1857, St. Louis Fire Department is just one year younger than the country’s oldest paid department, Cincinnati, Pauly said. That’s something to be proud of.
The St. Louis Fire Department built a temporary station in Forest Park for the 1904 World’s Fair.
Copies of the Book Available at Neighborhood Reads Bookstore
Copies of “St. Louis Fire Stations” can be purchased at Neighborhood Reads, 401 Lafayette St. in Downtown Washington or online at www.neighborhoodreads.com. For more information on the book, visit www.ReedyPress.com.