Louisville's first fire brigades were established in 1780, two years after the city's creation. The first firehouses were volunteer fire departments scattered throughout the city, but on June 1, 1858, the city of Louisville took control, and replaced the hand engines with five steam engines and volunteers with paid staff. There were initially three fire stations, 65 professional firefighters, and 23 horses.[1][3][4]
Many of the early firehouses were demolished due to urban renewal; the oldest firehouse still standing was originally built as St. John's Church in 1848, but the city turned the two-story edifice of brick and cast iron located in Phoenix Hill into a firehouse in 1869.[1] Three additional remaining firehouses were built in the 1870s and 1880s (Steam Engine Co. #7 in Limerick (1871), Steam Engine Co. #10 in Butchertown (1873), and the Rogers Street Firehouse in Irish Hill (1883)).
Formed on October 7, 1871, as the Louisville Steam Engine Co. 7, Engine Company 7, at 6th & York Streets, is the oldest continuously operated firehouse in the United States.[5] Due to budget concerns, it is scheduled to close in January 2009, in hopes to save $543,000 from the city's budget.[6]
The current fire department headquarters, at 1135 W. Jefferson Street (just outside downtown Louisville), was built in 1936 by the WPA. This limestone edifice is one of the few buildings in Louisville built in the Art Deco style.[1] When the fire department moved out, the former headquarters became home to the police traffic bureau and eventually became the Louisville Sinking Fund Building.
