Manistee Fire Hall

In early October 1888, the Manistee City Council hired Frederick Hollister of Saginaw, the architect of Manistee’s [principal] school, to design a fire hall to replace the original station, which was constructed in 1872-73 on Filer Street. Later that month the Manistee Democrat predicted that the city’s new fire hall would be “a model of convenience and usefulness.

” Constructed of brick, cut stone, and French plate glass, and trimmed with galvanized iron, this Romanesque Revival-style building was constructed by the local firm of Brownrigg and Reynolds at a cost of $7,516. The dome is covered with copper. The hall opened in June 1889 when Manistee’s first “fire truck,” a horse-drawn steam engine, was brought from the original hall.