Jacksonville Architecture

The Catherine Street Fire Station was opened ten months after the devastating fire of May 3, 1901. It replaced Fire Station #3, which had been located around the corner on Bay Street and had been destroyed by the Great Fire. The station was manned by black firemen until 1905, when an all-white contingent took their place. In 1933 the unit was decommissioned and the building was used as a storage and maintenance facility for the Fire Department. The Catherine Street Fire Station was slated for demolition in 1972 to make room for the new Police Administration Building. When the significance of the fire station was made known, however, plans for the police building were redrawn to go around the old building and thus created an interesting juxtaposition of old and new architecture. The large arched door originally accommodated horse-drawn fire wagons. Star-shaped tie rod ends highlight the facade of this old fire station, which has been restored to serve as a museum of Jacksonville's firefighting history. *
[Moved to Metropolitan Park in 1994.]