Hose Station No. 4

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[Narrator] Nestled in the heart of the historic village of East Davenport sits Hose Station No. 4, standing as a proud symbol of the neighborhood's resilience and civic spirit.

[Glen Thebe] It's very well knit, I think, and close with the business owners down here. This as an area of town that was a little bit separate at one time from the actual city of Davenport. There was a giant lumber mill and lumberyard down here and that burnt back in the early 1900s. There was a massive fire down here.

[Narrator] On July 25, 1901, fire consumed eight blocks of the village of East Davenport. Thirty years later, Hose Station No. 4 was constructed. Known as the International Fire Museum, today this Italianate style structure echoes the elegance of 16th century Renaissance architecture. Its red brick exterior and distinctive brick coin corners reflect the craftsmanship of the era and the building's original life as a working fire station.

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[Narrator] The fire engine red firehouse doors open up to 11th Street. They were uniquely designed to ensure that firefighters could respond with speed and precision.

[Thebe] You can open and close those doors electrically. The watch officer sounded the alarm. You came down the pole and you came down the steps. You got in the rig. That cord right there, you pulled that cord. The doors opened up. It was on about a four-minute timer. So, you had time to start the truck, get the truck warmed up a little bit, pull out, and after you pulled out and left, the timer was activated and then the doors would close. And they still work.

[Narrator] Form and function worked hand in hand. Crafted with care and purpose, the station stood as steadfast refuge for the firefighters and the trusted tools they carried into the flames.

[Thebe] Fire stations had hose towers because your fire hose was made out of woven cloth and it needed to dry. And if it didn't get dried out, it would mold, mildew, it would come apart, it would lose its strength. So, the hose tower that's in the back of this building is 40 feet tall I believe. Your lengths of hose are hundred foot. So, there's a cable and a pulley system in there with a hook. You would take the hose back there, kind of find where center was, hook it up, run it up to the top. A very brave man had to climb those pegs three and a half stories up.

Then there's a wood platform up there that he would stand on. And then the guy down here raising it up, he would grab that hose and unhook it and put it onto the metal hooks. Then on the wall, there's a radiator and that radiator would heat up and then the heat rise, you know, rose up and that would help dry the hose. The floor has a metal grate in it which goes down to the basement. And in the basement there's a floor drain. So, any water and moisture went down the drain.

[Narrator] Original fixtures and flooring remain mostly pristine and endure as a living relic for life at the station.

[Thebe] Everything in this building is pretty much untouched. The floor is all original. The paint on the inside of the doors is original. None of this has ever been stripped down, revarnished. It's just been maintained. We've had to paint the outside of the doors here. We're really focused on just the preservation of keeping this place as original as possible.

[Narrator] Hose Station No. 4 was designed concurrently with other fire stations in Davenport, each built for the specific needs of the neighborhoods they protected. But some firehouse functions were ubiquitous, no matter their location. And the centralized watch office was the heartbeat of nearly every firehouse.

[Thebe] Most all stations had a watch office. Davenport Central Fire is the oldest operating fire station west of the Mississippi. And on the original Davenport Central building on the corner of Scott and 4th, there was a watch office just like this that stuck out. And that's where your night watchman was awake all night long basically, or for most part of the night, keeping an eye, answering the phone, waiting for the radio to call to come in. So, it's basically like a watch office radio room. And then in these old stations, you know, the Murphy's bed folded up into the wall, which is really, you know, it's unique. And that's where the gentleman would sleep at night when he finally went to bed. Somebody was always in the watch office. [Narrator] Built with purpose and pride, Hose Station No. 4 stands as a reminder of craftsmanship and community spirit. A monument and museum preserving the legacy of service, strength and success in the village of East Davenport.

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