Wilkinsburg's First Fire Department

In 1903, a paid fire department replaced the volunteer department begun in December 1889. The department included 10 firemen and four hourses. The horse-drawn fire equipment was kept in the Municipal Building on Ross Avenue (directly across the street from the current Borough building.) The horses were stabled there with hay bins on the wall for feeding them. Gradually the Borough replaced the horse-drawn equipment with motorized vehicles. The old building was torn down in 1941 after the new Borough building was erected in 1939 and dedicated January 1, 1940.

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Source: Wilkinsburg Historical Society. (2007). Images of America: Wilkinsburg. Arcadia Publishing.

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