New life for old firehouse?

CEDAR RAPIDS - A century and two years ago, city firefighters and their horses moved into the reddish-brown-brick Fire Station No. 2 at Fifth Street and E Avenue NW.

Less than three weeks later, at 10 p.m. on Feb. 23, 1909, one of the horses, Tom, was seriously injured and put down at the scene after crashing into the F Avenue bridge on the way to a fire call.

“This is entered into the log book with deepest regret to all,” the fire captain wrote at the time.

Fondness for this piece of city history is alive and well, sufficiently so that Dave Wallace, a Public Works Department project engineer, reports that the city is hoping to attract local interest to move the former firehouse. It's in the way of a major $8.9 million storm sewer reconstruction project set to start next year on E Avenue NW between Third and 13th streets NW.

City officials see moving the 3,925-square-foot building as a better option than demolishing it or keeping it in place, Wallace said.

Leaving it there, he said, will require the significant expense of driving sheet piling into the ground to protect the building from the sewer work. As it sits now, the building actually sticks out into the street right of way and is an impediment to improvements that should be made in the street, he added.

As for demolition, “That is going to be unpopular with a lot of people,” including some in city government, Wallace said. “It's a neat old building.”

He said the building is not on the National Register of Historic Places, but likely is eligible for such standing.

The city's consulting engineer, Foth Infrastructure & Environment LLC in Cedar Rapids, is seeking public comment until April 16 on the fate of the former firehouse.

Linda Seger, president of the Northwest Neighbors Association, suggested that the old fire station might be moved nearby to Time Check Park, where the flood-damaged Time Check Recreation Center is awaiting demolition. Perhaps it could function as a fire museum there, she said.

The Rev. Clint Twedt-Ball, co-director of the neighborhood revitalization group Matthew 25 Ministry Hub, said the old fire station could fit nicely into his group's Ellis Urban Village neighborhood development plan.

Twedt-Ball said the concept targets the area between F and H avenues NW and Ellis Boulevard and Fourth Street NW and envisions a reuse of two former school-district warehouses, the construction of new infill housing and the creation of an urban garden area. Most of the site is in the 500-year flood plain, he noted.

The former fire house could double as office space and a neighborhood learning center, he said.

At this point, he said, it's too soon to know where the money might come from to move the former fire house.

Wallace said the city likely would need to put the building up for bid and see how many parties might be interested in it. Conceivably, it could be moved on to vacant property now owned by the city. Keeping it nearby helps retain the historic value of the building, he added.

The Fifth Street NW station was taken out of use by the Fire Department in 1985 when the city built its new Central Fire Station nearby at 223 Third St. NW. The city's transit operation used the former fire station for some years, but it and the Central Fire Station were damaged in the 2008 flood.

The city now is planning to build a new Central Fire Station in the 700 block between First and Second avenues SE.

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