Newtown Fire Co. - Newtown Historic District - Newtown, PA
N 40° 13.783 W 074° 56.132
18T E 505484 N 4453256
The central part of this fire station was built in 1901 and is absolutely stunning, offering a nostalgic reminder to what firehouses once looked like. The station also serves as a contributing structure to the Newtown Historic District.
Waymark Code: WM8ENC
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 03/22/2010
Views: 5
The Newtown Fire Association, the other name this company is known as has a long an venerable past dating back to the late 18th century. The original firehouse was built here in 1871. It was a simple brick building with a tin roof. Eventually, on October 28, 1889, following a destuctive fire at the Watson and Buckman Planning mill in Newtown, a meeting was held to form a new fire company. On the evening of November 13, 1889, a permanent organization – the Newtown Fire Association – was effected by the adoption of the constitution and by-laws. This is the company we see here today.
The fire bell has got to be the best feature of this building. In September 1891, the Newtown Borough Council purchased the present fire bell, weighing more than eight hundred pounds, in order that the “alarm of fire” could be “widely spread”.
On September 16, 1901, the company was incorporated under the name of “Newtown Fire Association No. 1” for the purpose of “extinguishing fires and protecting life and property.” In that same year, a new firehouse was erected right here, on Liberty Street. This was the second station on this site and the third in the Borough. A two-bay addition was added to this station in 1959. This station currently houses a museum and the meeting rooms of the fire association.
New Addition
In December 1983, the Borough of Newtown turned the deed for the fire station over to the Newtown Fire Association. At the same time the fire company purchased the adjacent corner property, a gas station, from the Borough of Newtown. Because of the increasing size of the apparatus and a building which was nearly 100 years old planning began for a new station at this site. The final design called for the demolition of the 1959 addition and a new 3 bay station, connected to the 1901 firehouse. In June of 1999 demolition began on the addition followed by the construction of the new station. In the spring of 2000 the new Station 45 was placed in service. (Source cited below)
Museum
The old fire station became the town's fire museum housing the Old Washy hand drawn pumper from 1792, the 1892 Ladder Wagon, the 1923 Kearns and the 1965 Ward La France. The 1923 Kearns was re-purchased by the fire company in the mid 1970’s and totally restored by Life Member James Miller in 1994-1995.
In the summer of 2008, the initial construction began on the museum and old fire house next to Station 45, which was built in 1901. The old firehouse was completely renovated to better serve as a museum, and the second floor was renovated to serve as a meeting and training room. Construction was completed in June 2009. The station house looks terrific just as it did over a hundred years ago.
As already mentioned, this firehouse is a contributing structure to the Newtown Historic District. A contact from the Department of the Interior was kind enough to e-mail a PDF of the nomination form and supporting narratives. The narrative for this firehouse can be found below.
