Tag Archives: Fire Stations

Pleasant Grove’s First Fire Station

25 Thursday Jan 2018

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2017-11-25 14.52.25

Pleasant Grove’s First Fire Station

Pleasant Grove‘s Fire Department was first organized in 1906.  A hand drawn hose cart with 300 feet of hose, and one nozzle was purchased from ZCMI for the price of $210.75.  After unsuccessfully recruiting citizens to man the hose cart, the city council appointed Josiah “Si” Kemp on February 21, 1910 to oversee the Fire Department with Hans Williamson, Assistant Fire Chief, and Henry Jeppson, Chris Williamson, Anton Hecker, Clarence Christiansen and Ole Christiansen as charter firemen.  In 1910, three chemical fire extinguishers, and an up-to-date nozzle were purchased and the original hose cart was reconstructed to carry these new items.   In 1912 Chief Kemp recommended to the City Fathers that the hose cart be moved from a warehouse to a more convenient location.  The City Council approved construction of the fire station in 1912, and directed that it be built near the city hall.  Two years later the city purchased the Old Bell School from the Pleasant Grove School District.  The south door of the building was enlarged so the fire fighting apparatus could be stored in the old school.  The school bell was rung to summon firemen.  On October 19, 1914 the City declared the building surplus and sold it to Chris and Delilah Fugal, The Fugals moved this little fire station to their property and used it as a storage shed for the next 85 years.  Mary Fugal Howes, daughter of Chris and Delilah Fugal, donated the little fire station to the Pleasant Grove Fire Department, and in 1999, members of the Pleasant Grove Fore Department transported it to their facility for restoration.  Fireman Lyman Smith spent many hours restoring the original wood to exact historic specifications.  After restoration, this little fire station was placed in Pioneer Park near it’s original site.

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Provo’s First Fire Station

06 Wednesday Dec 2017

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2017-10-07 11.35.56

Provo’s First Fire Station was Opened Downtown in 1893.

After Provo suffered from devastating fores for more than forty years, the Provo Volunteer Fire Department was organized during the summer of 1890.  The department started with two dozen men, two horses, five hundred feet of hose, a hose cart, and a steam-powered pumping machine referred to as a fire engine.  But the Fire Department had no station.

In order to shelter the new fire engine, carpenters built a shed on the west side of the city jail, which was located near the middle of the block on which the historic county building now stands.  Two firemen stayed in this shed each night on a rotating basis.  Near the shed, men constructed a small stable for the department’s horses and a platform on which to dry fire hose.

When a large fire bell weighing 710 pounds arrived from New York, carpenters built a 20-foot-tall tower from which to hang it.  Firemen were unpleasantly surprised  when they tested the bell.  its tones did not carry as far as they expected, and the bell’s clapper broke out.  The bell was loud enough, however, to attract about 150 disappointed boys and young men who gathered to see where the nonexistent fire was burning.

Finally in 1892, the city council approved plans for a fire station and delected a site for it on the south side of Center Street between what is now University Avenue and 100 East.  In November of that year, work began on a 56 x 30, two-story brick and stone structure with a 60 foot tall tower on its northeast corner.  This tower served as a bell tower and a place to hang hoses to dry.  The fire engone was housed in a main floor garage with a door opening out onto Center Street.  A fireman’s room was located on the second floor.

The new fire station opened at the end of March, 1893, and for the first time in its 44-year history, Provo had a fire hall.  Firemen used it for thirty years before workmen razed it after a new station had been complaeted in 1923 on the north side of 100 North between 100 and 200 West.

This is plaque #36 in the Series of Events from Provo’s History.

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Sandy Co-op

12 Wednesday Oct 2016

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Sandy Co-op

This two-story, one-part commercial block building was constructed in 1889.  The second story brick addition dates from c. 1890.  Both were built during Sandy’s first major period of development known as the “Mining, Smelting, and Small Farm Era, 1871-c1910”.  The “Sandy Co-op” sign panel was located below the corbelled brick cornice was alternating rows of dog tooth coursing.  The relatively simple design and bilateral symmetry of the building is expressive of the aesthetics employed on commercial structures in Sandy.  It is important as the only two-story commercial block building remaining from the City’s original commercial district.

The Sandy Co-op Mercantile and Manufacturing Co. occupied the building until 1908 when it changed hands several times before being purchased and used by the Knights of Pythias between 1912-1943.  The main floor was reportedly used for the sale of general merchandise and the upper floor as a meeting and dance hall.  The building was converted to serve as Sandy City’s fire station between 1949-1984.  In 1988, it was restored to house the Sandy City Museum.

The land was originally owned by La Grande Young and sold to Wells Clark in 1886. Sandy Co-op purchased it in 1888. The building was constructed in 1890 with a co-op merchantile store on the bottom floor and a social hall on the top floor. Dances and other social events were held weekly as the main social gatherings. The bottom level was used by a variety of occupants including Jenkins Funeral Parlor from 1908 until 1912. During this time period a huge advertisement for “Bull Durham” was painted on the outside south wall. Located across the street was a Utah Southern Railroad Station. The old building survived the vibration of a great many trains during Sandy’s coming of age. In 1912, Mingo Lodge No. 6 Knights of Pythias purchased the building to be used as a lodge hall and rental for other social functions. It was referred to as the “K.P. Lodge” during this time period. In 1939 Sandy City purchased the building as an interim fire station until a new facility was built in 1984 at another location. The building’s architecture dates from 1890 and is of a non-reinforced masonry construction “low fired brick on a quartzite-granite foundation”.

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CMI Co-op Building 1890-1908 Official outlet of ZCMI (Zion’s Co-operative Mercantile Institution), “America’s First Department Store”. This building housed the “Sandy Co-op” which was part of the ZCMI co-operative system servicing more than 150 communities in the intermountain area with retail commodities and services beginning in 1868.

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