Fire Station No. 11 (demolished) Improvements – Birmingham AL

Description

Birmingham Fire Station No. 11 (1910) was a station for the Birmingham Fire Department located at 1250 13th Street North, adjoining the alley between 12th and 13th Avenues to serve the Fountain Heights area.

Construction of a station in the neighborhood was recommended in a 1904 report by the Southeastern Tariff Association. The flat-roof one-story brick building was built by early 1910 in a utilitarian commercial style with one large truck bay on the left side of the building and offices to the right. It was the first Birmingham fire company to exclusively use “automobile equipment”. The fire company’s first run was in response to a fire alarm sounded by the Frisco Railroad at its downtown shops. The fire was confined to a single camp car on the tracks and caused little damage. In 1960 the station housed one 1,000 gallon pumper truck. After the station was vacated it served other businesses. Part of the bay door was bricked up and the windows were replaced with aluminum-frame units. The historic station has since been demolished.

23 fire stations in Birmingham were fixed up under a CWA (or Civil Works Administration of Alabama Jefferson County Division) under a Birmingham Public Buildings 37-C-715 Project under Class “A”: “Those needing general minor repairs, having sufficient sound value left in them to justify a thorough repairing, on which buildings was included painting inside and outside where needed, general carpentry repairs, including doors, windows and repairs to floors, or new floors; general repairs to masonry work and plaster or stucco, repairs to roof and sheet metal work, or new roof and sheet metal work installed. Plumbing, heating and wiring were put in good state of repair, and all minor changes such as moving partitions, or relocation of doors or windows were made.” 7 weeks was the estimated time for completion of this project.