National Register of Historic Places
Des Moines Fire Department Headquarters-Fire Station No. 1 and Shop Building
Listed federally as Des Moines Fire Department Headquarters--Fire Station No. 1 and Shop Building
Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa
The record
- Listed
- April 7, 2014
- Type
- Building
- Address
- 900 Mulberry St., 100 9th St., Des Moines
- County
- Polk
- State
- Iowa
- Contributing resources
- 2 buildings, 2 structures
- Coordinates
- 41.58544, -92.37229
- Reference number
- 14000113
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The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The Des Moines Fire Department Headquarters--Fire Station No. 1 and Shop Building stands at 900 Mulberry St. and 100 9th St. in Des Moines, Polk County. It was built in 1937 by F.B. Dickinson & Co. to designs by Proudfoot, Rawson, Brooks and Borg, in the Art Deco and PWA Moderne styles.
Why it's listed
It was listed under criteria A, B, C and D and under Criteria Consideration G, with local-level significance in politics and government, architecture and communications. Its significance runs from 1937 to 1963, spanning its 1937 construction with Public Works Administration funding.
Physical character
The station is built of red brick with natural stone trim on a concrete foundation, and a stone-capped brick wall curves past seven stone pylons carved with fire-mark medallions. Steel-sash and glass-block windows, terracotta spandrel panels and salt-glazed buff tile trim the facades, and a 56-foot chimney and a Hose Tower rise above the flat roof.
Historical context
Fire Chief William Burnett, who had led the department since 1896, was fatally injured on duty in 1937, and the complex opened that year as headquarters. Its 165-foot radio tower, erected in the courtyard in 1958, served as the department's primary dispatch transmitter until 1978 and as backup until 2009.