Florence Firehouse, Florence City Hall

Florence Firehouse, Florence City Hall. 119 and 119 1/2 West Main Street. , This building was originally constructed to house the Florence Firehouse and City Hall., Built in late Victorian style, the building was the location of the Florence City Hall from 1892 until 1920. It housed a jail, the mayor's office, and the fire department. In the 1900 official Sanborn Fire Insurance Map the building was recorded as containing a hose cart, one Marshfield Steamer and one hook and ladder. A belfry was added to the northwest corner of the building in the 1890's and is shown in many of the early photographs of Main Street Florence., Since the 1920's the Florence Firehouse building has housed many small businesses and specialty shops, a Western Union office, several cafés in the 1940s -1950s, liquor stores, offices, and a credit union. Of late, the building has been an antique shop and the studio gallery for several prominent Florence artists., Many of downtown Florence's Victorian storefronts have been preserved and reflect the prosperity of the era from 1880 to 1920 when oil and mining industries in Fremont County were producing at their peak., These elegant, well crafted buildings illustrate the remains of an era when skilled masons handcrafted each building from local brick and stone based on designs by architects arriving from the East and bringing the sophistication of Victorian architecture to the American Frontier.