Old Marion Fire House

This is a photo of the old Marion Fire house that used to sit on the NE corner of  N. Van Buren and  West Union street just off the square. It was built in 1915 when the city had a team of horses and a wagon for fire prevention. The horses were housed in what later became the kitchen. The wagon was placed in the entrance and the harness was stored overhead and was lowered to fall in place on the horses. The entrance in 1915 was wide enough for the wagon and the team of horses, but with the more modern equipment navigating out of the fire house and onto the small streets became a challenge. In 1935, when the city purchased a second engine it had to be housed in a seperate location till needed. When the brick pavement was removed from the square in 1936 to enable concrete paving the bricks were used the following year in 1937 to fortify and expand the fire house and was expanded again in 1941. In 1967 plans were firmed up for the building of a new fire house. The project was completed and the new fire house on N. Court Street held its open house in June of 1970. The old fire house was later torn down and turned into city parking.