Status Fire Station Address 107 W Main St Coordinates 44°05′01″N 93°13′35″W Floors 3 Construction started 1906 | Location Owatonna, MN Country United States Opened 5 October 1907 Architectural style Romanesque architecture Renovated 1996 | |
 | ||
Former names Owatonna City and Firemen's Hall Similar Village of Yesteryear, Minnesota State Public Sc, The Reptile & Amphibia, National Farmer's Bank of O | ||
The Owatonna Firemen's Hall, formally known as the Owatonna City and Firemen's Hall, is a historic building in downtown Owatonna, Minnesota. Built in 1906, it serves as the headquarters for the Owatonna Fire Department and formerly included, City government offices until 1974, when the city purchased the old State School campus from the state of Minnesota and moved government offices to the site. The Firemen's Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 31, 1997
Contents
History
In September 1903 the firemen bought two lots, 44 feet wide by 132 feet long, west of the Metropolitan Opera House (later the Roxy Theatre) for $3,126.00. On September 19, 1905, a special election was held to gauge support from Owatonna residents for a $15,000.00 bond for the construction of a new city hall / fire station. The bond was passed. On July 17, 1906, the construction firm Hammel and Anderson, with a bid of $19,643.00, was awarded the contract for construction of the fire hall. On August 17 the two lots were donated to the city by the firemen for construction of a combination city hall and fire hall on the condition that the city would spend not less than $15,000.00 for construction of a three-story building. The firemen contributed $1,000.00 towards capital costs and obtained a 25-year lease. The cornerstone was laid on September 8, 1906. An opening ceremony was held on October 5, 1907 and the equipment was transferred to the new site, the same year, on November 5. The team used horse-drawn equipment until 1915, when the first motorized vehicle, a 1915 Jeffery, was purchased.
The city vacated their portion of the building in 1974, moving to the new West Hills campus. A truck bay was built where the old Roxy Theatre stood, which was demolished in the 1950s, along with other improvements to the building, done in the 1996 renovation. An elevator was installed and the third floor remodeled in 2008.
In February 2016 the City of Owatonna purchased two lots for $184,000 on the corner 26th Street and Kenyon Road/24th Avenue NE in northeastern Owatonna, for the future development of a fire sub-station. The northern section of Owatonna is about 1.5 miles from the current Firemen's Hall, which has led to longer response times. The City wants to wait for further development before any building is done. The time before any building occurs is estimated at 10 years.
Historic fire department equipment
Property on hand, according to the 1904 Fire Chief’s annual report:
1960s – Trucks owned by OFD:
Fire department chiefs
Other uses
The Owatonna Firemen's Hall is also the headquarters for Steele County Skywarn. A non-profit organization, Skywarn is apart of the Steele County Emergency Management. It uses the third floor for meetings and another room in the building as a nerve center, to communicate with spotters out in the field, monitor weather conditions in and around Owatonna, and make reports to the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, Minnesota.