Durham Fire Department

The Durham Fire Department was established in ~1890 with the "Golden Belt Hose Company." The first station was located at Holloway and North Mangum Streets, in the core of downtown.

Fire Station #1 (first)

The home of the "Golden Belt Hose Company", a primarily volunteer firefighting squad, was constructed at the intersection of Holloway and Mangum Streets in 1891 on land adjacent to the E.J. Parrish tobacco warehouse. It was designed by Samuel L. Leary, had an electric alarm system, and an 829 pound bell in its tower, cast in Baltimore.

Fire Station #2 was built in the midst of the later Liggett and Myers (then American Tobacco) factory buildings on West Main Street in 1902

Fire Station #2

The original Fire Station #2 was constructed on the north side of West Main Street, across from the W. Duke & Sons cigarette factory between 1888 and 1893. The original building was a frame structure with a reservoir at the rear of the building. The building was located on Duke Co. land through a lease arrangement with the company, wherein the...

And in 1911, Fire Station #3 followed on the east side of downtown, at South Elizabeth and East Main

Fire Station No. 3 (original)

Looking north, 1910s. (Courtesy Durham County Library) The last of the 'original' fire stations downtown, fire station no. 3 was constructed in 1911, housing a steamer engine and a hose wagon. The 500 block of East Main St. (between Dillard and Elizabeth streets) was constructed as a wide, divided street with a median - but only for one block. The...

Durham would rely on these three fire stations until the mid-1920s.

In 1924, Fire Station # 1 was replaced with a new, Milburn and Heister-designed structure that was similar in style to the original.

Fire Station #1 (second)

The home of the "Golden Belt Hose Company", a primarily volunteer firefighting squad, was constructed at the intersection of Holloway and Mangum Streets between 1888 and 1893, likely in 1890, on land adjacent to the E.J. Parrish tobacco warehouse.

And for the first time in 15 years, the number of stations would expand in 1926 with the construction of Station 4 on McMannen Street (later South Mangum Street,) serving the burgeoning neighborhoods south of downtown.

Fire Station #4 (mcmannen Street)

(Courtesy Durham Fire Department) Fire Station #4 was constructed in 1926 on the northeast corner of McMannen St (later South Mangum) and Cobb St. at a cost of $14,350. Sanborn Map, 1950, showing the fire station on the northeast corner of Cobb and McMannen. Fire Station #4, 1950s

In 1950, the original Fire Station #2 was demolished, and a new Station 2 was built significantly farther west, in the core of West Durham on Ninth Street.

In 1960, the number of stations would expand again with the addition of Station 5 on Chapel Hill Road, in the Lakewood Park neighborhood

Fire Station #5

When Fire Station #5 opened in Lakewood in 1960, it was the first expansion of the number of fire stations in Durham since 1926, when station #4 had opened on McMannen St. Station #4 had been replaced in 1957 by a new station #4 on Fayetteville St., which appears to have been identical to Station 5. The station displaced an earlier house on the...

In 1964, Company 1 moved to a new Fire Station #1, although the 1924 station was not demolished - this 1964 station remains its home today.

Fire Station #1 (third)

1960s (Courtesy Ralph Rogers) The third iteration of Fire Station #1 was part of an urban renewal project that demolished part of the formerly exclusive Cleveland Street neighborhood north of downtown. The 500 block of Cleveland St. was, by the early 20th century, filled with large Victorian houses, constituting part of the first wave of...

Comments

Submitted by Charlotte Smith (not verified) on Tue, 10/22/2013 - 10:26pm

I remember well station No. 3 on East Main St., as my cousin Jube Evans was a number of years was a driver. I fondly remember going to the fire station when I was a small child and having lunch with the firemen and we always had tomato soup, also, in the back of the station Jube had a "gold fish" pond (or whatever it was called). Also, remember the Greek family, Dennos) who lived next door. Really great memories.

Durham Fire Department

Fire Station #1 (first)

Fire Station #2

Fire Station No. 3 (original)

Fire Station #1 (second)

Fire Station #4 (mcmannen Street)

Fire Station #2 (ninth Street)

102 South Driver / Fire Station #3 (second)

Fire Station #4 - Fayetteville St.

Fire Station #5

Fire Station #1 (third)

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