My most recently published writing may be found in the January 2015 issue of First Coast Magazine. This relatively new magazine is beautifully designed and always features interesting information about the northeast Florida community. I’m so excited to have been asked to write for the publication.
You can also read the story here:
Like the fabled phoenix in Egyptian mythology that was consumed by fire, only later to rise renewed from its ashes, Fire Station No.3 has been reborn – and more than once. It originally opened in 1886 on East Bay Street in downtown Jacksonville and was rebuilt after burning nearly to the ground in Jacksonville’s Great Fire of 1901. The station, which now houses the Jacksonville Fire Museum at 1406 Gator Bowl Blvd., in Metropolitan Park, is a tribute to Jacksonville’s trials by fire.
When it opened in 1886, it was known as the Duval Hose Company, the city’s only African-American company, that remained so until 1906. The company eventually became part of Fire Station No.3. All that remained of the station after the Great Fire was the east wall of the station. The station’s horse-drawn fire truck was destroyed as well.
Bricks salvaged from buildings destroyed by the fire were used to rebuild the north, south and west walls of the new firehouse that was built at 12 Catherine Street. Ten months after the Great Fire, the new Fire Station 3 was opened. A new 1902 LaFrance Steam Engine arrived to replace the horse-drawn one. That has been restored, and sits gleaming in the Jacksonville Fire Museum.
Station No.3 remained a working fire station until 1920, when the Jacksonville Fire Department shop facilities moved in and remained until 1952. From 1952-73, the station was used only as a storage facility for the Jacksonville Fire Department.
Jacksonville Fire Lieutenant Paul Galloway and Engineer Wayne Doolittle, with the assistance of the Jacksonville Historical and Cultural Conservation Commission and the Jacksonville Mayor’s Office, successfully got Fire Station No.3 placed on the National Registry of Historical Monuments in 1973.
According to curator Wyatt Taylor, the building became a museum in 1982 and was moved to its current location in 1994. The exterior of the building is a testament to its history, with the east wall a different shade of brick from the other walls, standing strong as a link to our founding firehouses.
The building looks forward to yet another rebirth. Funds are needed to address structural issues and for the museum’s operation costs.
“The museum was originally run by firefighters to honor firefighters,” Wyatt says. “Now we want to turn it into a functioning museum that has the ability to document and care properly for the items it continues to collect to educate future generations about Jacksonville’s firefighters.”
For more information on how you can get involved visit the Jacksonville Fire Museum.
Karen J. Rieley 