Camp Curtin Fire Company No. 13

Camp Curtin Fire Company No. 13. . The growth of Harrisburg's 10th Ward north of Maclay Street had, by the turn of the 20th Century, necessitated the formation of a new volunteer fire department. Prior to that time, the closest station was the Reily Hose Company, now the Pennsylvania National Fire Museum, at N. Fourth and Dauphin Streets. It was argued that this fire station was too far away to safely cover the northward urban growth rising from the land once occupied by Camp Curtin, the country's largest Civil War mustering and deployment facility. By 1906, the Camp Curtin Fire Company No. 13, named in honor of the former Camp, was incorporated but not immediately into the City's fire department. The City at first was not prepared to make an appropriation for the new fire company's support because of the view that there was a sufficient number of fire stations in the uptown area at that time. Further residential construction, however, reversed this position and the Company was recognized by the City, which in turn authorized funds in 1908 for the purchase of a lot containing a small blacksmith shop at Sixth and Ross Streets. This small frame building served as a temporary station until 1910 when the present two-story Italianate-styled brick building, designed by Harrisburg architect Charles Howard Lloyd and complete with bell tower, was built. Replaced in 1980 by a new fire station located in the 1800 Bock of N. Sixth Street, the building was ultimately sold for adaptive reuse that to this day respects the original flavor and spirit of the building's history. Individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the Camp Curtin Fire Station stands as a tribute to the original Company's persistence in ensuring that public safety kept pace with the city's growth.