Camp Curtin Fire Station Explained

Camp Curtin Fire Station
Location:2504 N. 6th St., Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Coordinates:40.2869°N -76.8942°W
Built:1910
Architecture:Italianate
Added:August 11, 1981
Refnum:81000541

The Camp Curtin Fire Station is a historic fire station located at Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania and named for the Civil War camp of the same name. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, and was decommissioned the year prior because it was no longer large enough to accommodate standard fire trucks.[1]

History

In 1908, after an initial two-year dormancy over funding, the Camp Curtin Fire Company No. 13 was formally activated and $2,000 were allocated by Harrisburg City Council for the purchase of the lot on the corner of Sixth and Ross Streets for a one-story frame building.[2] This was quickly outgrown, and two-story, twin-bay Camp Curtin Fire Station was built in 1910.[3] [4] The rectangular brick building measures 38by and exhibits Italianate style design elements. It features a square wooden bell tower at the center of the front façade. The tower has a hipped, shingled roof and four stilted segmental arches.[5]

In 1915, residents of Harrisburg's tenth ward petitioned city leaders to fund the purchase of modern fire equipment, including a new chemical engine, citing the lack of sufficient fire protection in their ward and outdated equipment in use at the time by the Camp Curtin Fire Company.[6]

The station was decommissioned in March 1980, with all apparatus being relocated to the Bureau's Station One. This building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in August 1981.

In 2019, the Historic Harrisburg Association announced that a medical marijuana dispensary would open in the building, and that the owners planned "to preserve much of the historic building's character and charm." It had previously housed a restaurant serving barbecue.

See also

Notes and References

  1. "Medical marijuana dispensary set to open in former Camp Curtin fire station." Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: CBS-21 News, June 10, 2019.
  2. Book: Houseal, David. The History of the Harrisburg Volunteer Fire Department. Pennsylvania National Fire Museum. 1999. 73.
  3. "Camp Curtin Company Observes Anniversary." Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, January 25, 1918, p. 20.
  4. "Camp Curtin Fire Co. Elects New Officers." Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, February 13, 1918.
  5. Web site: National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania. CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Searchable database. 2011-11-12. 2007-07-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20070721014609/https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce/SelectWelcome.asp. dead. Note: This includes Web site: [{{NRHP-PA|H000502_01H.pdf}} National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Camp Curtin Fire Station]. 2011-11-12. Richard Behney and Sakura Namioka. PDF. n.d..
  6. "Tenth Warders Insist on More Fire Protection: One Thousand of the 1,421 Sign Protest Filed with Commission To-Day: Have Only One Ancient Machine." Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: The Star-Independent, March 16, 1915, p. 1.