Lorain Fire Department

A major part of this blog is to discover and photograph local places that had some historical significance. I would also like to mention that any of the "now" shots on this page will be taken directly by me. There are plenty of "now" shots floating around the internet that would be easy to place in here, but what's the fun in that?

In one of my first posts where I rode into downtown Lorain I took a photograph of the old Fire Station 1, which is now the Lorain City Tax Department building. At the time I did not have an old photograph of the department, but I recently stumbled across an old photograph and a postcard from when it was a fire station. So now it is also time for a small history lesson.

The first Lorain fire company was established on March 22, 1883 and consisted of only 4 men from the city. The only fire apparatus provided to them was a hand pulled hose reel. They were known as "Eagle Company". As the years went on more companies and stations were added to the ever-growing fire department and in 1912 the city purchased their first motorized fire truck and by 1929 all of the fire horses were finally retired. At one point in time there were 8 fire stations. Today there are 4. For more information on the Lorain Fire Department visit their website.

Now for the pictures.

Picture I took of Fire Station 1 in December 2013 (now the Tax Department)

Fire Station 1 photograph taken around 1912 (Notice the church on the right is now different)

Same photograph as above in colorized postcard form (Notice how they are called Motor Trucks)

In the above photographs there is a wooden church next to the fire station that looks completely different than the brick one that stands currently. This is because in 1924 there was a large tornado that ripped through the city and demolished it. At some point I would like to do a post on the tornado, but until then here is a picture of the destroyed church and damaged fire station.