Erected: 1862
Cost of lot: $950
Architect: John D. Kelly
Contractors: Little & Kelly
Cost of Contractor: $ 2835
Demolished: Early 1970’s
If you take a look at the book Newburgh Her Institutions, Industries, and Leading Persons, you’ll see that Newburgh had many fire departments. All of them were exquisitely designed. The city was quite proud of all of them. Some of them didn’t escape “urban renewal” like this one. I like flipping between the pictures to see the differences.
It’s ironic to see these ladies and gentleman strolling across the sidewalk of the new firehouse in contrast with the photos below of the utterly abandoned building. It really makes me wish I had a time machine so I could A.) go back in time and see this building in it’s glory, and B.) go back in time to strap myself in front of this building so that it couldn’t be demolished. (sigh) This place would’ve been awesome today. Click on any picture twice to see it in high resolution.
Photos ©Library of Congress, ©Newburgh her Institutions, Industries and Leading Persons ©Images of America, Newburgh
