Hope Fire Station

Hope Fire Station. . Directly across this street stands the Hope Fire Station, oldest fire station in Harrisburg and one of the oldest in the U.S. It was originally owned by the Hope Fire Company, which was organized in 1814, and which built this building in 1871. Distinctive through its Italianate architectural design with tall arch-headed windows and corbelled exterior brickwork, the building remains a symbol of the classic neighborhood fire station of the 19th Century. The Hope Company, which was a volunteer unit as all were at the time, later became absorbed into the City of Harrisburg's Fire Bureau. The City continued to operate what had become known as the Hope Fire Station into the second half of the 20th Century. Upon the construction of two new state-of-the-art fire stations in the City in the late 1970's, the Hope Fire Station, and other smaller fire stations at various locations in Harrisburg, was sold for alternate use. The Hope Fire Station's important historic and architectural significance led the City at that time to require that the building's purchaser retain many of the building's original interior and exterior features which are still in place today. , Photo , 1914 view of the Hope Fire Station before the roof bell cupola was removed.