"Now" and "Then" photos were taken from across Quartz Street, looking generally northwest. The "Then" was likely taken not long after the department moved into the building.
Still a beautiful Neo-Classical building, with its decorative brick work, innovative stone trim, classically styled parapet and overhanging cornice with small and large Italianate brackets, this is one of the nicer former fire halls one will find in Western Montana.
Retired as a fire hall in the 1970s, it is now home to the
Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives. Established in 1981, the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives likely moved into the building around that time, though the building was not restored until 1992. An addition, with a sympathetic design, was added to the east side of the fire hall in 2010, nearly doubling the available space.
As an added perk, the fire hall is reputedly haunted, the culprit ostensibly one Louisa Sanger, the widow of one time Fire Chief Peter Sanger.
1900: Quartz Street Station
Quartz Street Station, known as “Number One”, served as Headquarters for the Fire Chief and 14 men. It was a 4 bay station and besides its extensive equipment, it was said to have a vast Library of fire literature. It served as Headquarters until 1976. Present day, it houses the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives and is said to be haunted by Louisa Sanger, widow of Chief Peter Sanger.
From Butte-Silver Bow
QUARTZ STREET FIRE STATION
A catastrophic fire in 1879 destroyed all evidence of Butte’s first commercial district. Wooden buildings were subsequently outlawed on Main Street, but even so, fire has altered the commercial landscape in every decade from 1879 to the present. This indispensable community fire hall, completed in 1900, served as the Butte headquarters until the 1970s. The station, with its three garage bays, housed the fire chief and twenty-two men. A corrugated metal tower above the roof at the rear was used for hanging hoses. The building, rehabilitated in 1992, now houses the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives.
From the NRHP plaque at the building