104 W 3rd St - Washington Fire Co.

Washington Fire Company No. 2, 104 W. Third St., is Madison’s second-oldest volunteer company, having been founded on Jan. 23, 1846. It is also recognized as the oldest firehouse in continuous use in Indiana. The building is owned by the City of Madison. It is the first and only home of Madison’s No. 2 Fire Company.

Matthew Temperley and William or Isaac Dutton designed the firehouse in 1848. It was completed in 1850. This is a two-story fire station in the Greek Revival style. It is a long, rectangular brick building on a stone foundation, with a pedimented gable end facing the street. The existing bell platform on the roof replaced the original belfry in the early 20th Century.

At first, firefighters relied on horse-drawn hose wagons. The back part of the first floor was a stable for the horses. Washington Fire Company was the first to bring a steam pumper to Madison. The pumper arrived from Philadelphia in 1860 and the cost was $2,000. It was a push-and-pull pumper, but it was a great advancement for the fire companies of Madison. In 1916, the company purchased a mechanized truck manufactured in Cincinnati by Ahrens Fox. The vehicle cost nearly $10,000.

Changes were made to the building in 1901, 1922-23, 1947 and 1964. The three original round-headed doorways were removed in 1964 and replaced by an overhead door to accommodate modern fire-fighting equipment. The line of the original arched doorway remains visible.

The second floor of the fire house has served as a social center and community center. The Washington Fire Company was once known as the “Silk Stocking Company” because of the wealth of its members. Dinners and public gatherings were held in the ballroom on the second floor. A colonnaded screen at one end marked off an area for speakers or amateur theatricals. Decorative touches upstairs included a pair of gasoliers fitted with Austrian crystal prisms. In 1925, the gasoliers were donated to the State of Indiana for use in the Lanier Mansion, but they have since been returned. The original Brussels carpeting of the second floor was replaced with red and white linoleum in the mid-1920s. More recently, the wood floors have been refinished.