Boasting more than 500 artifacts of the town’s firefighting history, the Jacksonville Fire Museum sits near the entrance of Metropolitan Park, its bright red carriage house doors beckoning kids playing in the nearby water park and anglers docking along the north bank of the St. Johns River. The two-story brick structure, with its gently arched doorways and windows and manicured landscape looks the picture of back-in-the-day urban charm. But its history begins with one of Jacksonville’s darkest days.
Original Station No. 3 Meets Quick Demise
Jacksonville’s “Station No. 3,” as it’s affectionately referred to by locals, originally opened on the southern portion of Bay Street downtown, outfitted with a hose reel carrying 500 feet of hose pulled by a horse named George. It was one of three that comprised the fully paid, professional Jacksonville Fire Department, which formed the same year after three politically-charged and oft-criticized decades of volunteer firefighting in town.
It was the first in Jacksonville (dubbed the River City because its land is split by the massive St. Johns River) to be staffed by paid black firefighters. A decade before, 22 African American volunteer firemen founded the Duval Hose Company, which soon became one of the town’s most active fire companies. Members wore red shirts, pantaloons and helmets and drew their bright red and gold hand engine in dozens of parades and social functions.
The station served Jacksonville through several major catastrophes the 1888 Yellow Fever epidemic during which firefighters set controlled blazes in a superstition-driven effort to kill the disease and a dynamite explosion that burned from the intersection of Adams and Ocean streets all the way to the St. Johns River, destroying another firehouse. This era, however, also saw several significant modernization efforts including paving several downtown streets to keep fire apparatus from bogging down in the sand and installing a more advanced alarm system.
Sadly, and perhaps a bit embarrassingly, the original Station No. 3 was destroyed in the infamous blaze dubbed the “Great Fire of 1901.” Newspapers nationwide covered the story of fire’s destruction of nearly the entire downtown core. The largest and most destructive metropolitan fire in the history of the Southeastern U.S. to this day, it killed seven, obliterated nearly 2,370 buildings covering 140 city blocks and left upwards of 10,000 residents homeless.
Ten months later, the current structure, built with bricks salvaged from the Great Fire, Station No. 3 reopened at 12 Catherine Street, equipped with a glimmering new 1902 LaFrance Steam Engine. The new station served Jacksonville for three decades until it was deactivated in 1928. This time frame saw the implementation of a high-pressure water system in 1909, the Jacksonville Fire Department’s 1912 purchase of its first motorized equipment, two engines and a 65-foot aerial ladder, and the purchase of Jacksonville’s first fireboat, a converted, 110-foot sub chaser dubbed the John B. Callahan.
Rebirth of Jacksonville's Station No. 3
After its deactivation, Station No. 3 remained home to the Jacksonville Fire Department’s shop facilities until 1952. It served as a storage facility for the next two decades until then-Jacksonville Fire Lieutenant Paul Galloway and Engineer Wayne Doolittle spearheaded efforts to properly honor the station’s history. Enlisting the help of the Jacksonville Historical and Cultural Conservation Commission and Jacksonville Mayor Hans Tanzler’s office, the duo landed funds from the State of Florida Historical Trust to renovate and reopen Station No. 3 as the Jacksonville Fire Museum.
In 1993, Station No. 3’s future again appeared ominous. Engineering surveys revealed deterioration of the foundation and large cracks in the brick walls. The building was in danger of collapse and engineers could not guarantee that stabilization could be guaranteed. Again, help arrived in the nick of time, this time in funds from Jacksonville Mayor Ed Austin’s office, the Department of State and the Division of Historical Preservation. Structural renovations proved successful and the building was relocated to its current Metropolitan Park location.
Today, the Jacksonville Fire Museum houses more than 500 artifacts chronicling the history of the city’s organized firefighting efforts. Items date back to the days of the “Bucket Brigade,” when volunteers fought fires by forming two parallel lines between the St. Johns River and wherever a fire broke out. Buckets were dipped into the river and passed along the first line, dumped onto the blaze, then sent down the second line back to the river for another dip.
Among the artifacts on display are an 1806 hand pumper, a 1926 American LaFrance Fire Engine and an 1898 Steam Engine that was used to fight the Great Fire of 1901. The museum also serves as the State of Florida Fire Museum and draws upwards of 15,000 visitors annually.
Devan Stuart - Devan Stuart is a longtime journalist and five-time Florida Press Association Award winner.
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