Photographed 2012
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In early 1895, a pair of devastating fires sparked an improvement in Kinston's firefighting forces. The river city purchased a Silsby steam engine and 2,000 feet of hose for its volunteer firefighters. Called Caswell No. 1, the steamer and a homebuilt hose reel were stored in a newly constructed engine house on the county courthouse lot. Both pieces of apparatus were hand-drawn at first, though two horses and a hose wagon were added the next year.
In 1897, Kinston's first water main was installed. In 1898, a hand-pulled hook and ladder wagon was purchased and staffed by members of the black community. In 1904, a new fire department was organized. Named Caswell Fire Company No. 1, their initial equipment consisted of three horses and two wagons. In 1908, a second fire company was formed to supplement the Caswell Company. The East Kinston Hose Reel Company operated a hand-pulled reel.
An electric telegraph fire alarm system with 25 boxes was installed in 1913; the first motorized piece of fire apparatus, a 750 GPM pumper, was purchased in 1918. Ten years later, the first full-time fire chief was hired.
Kinston's first fire station and first brick building was completed in 1895 on South Queen Street. By 1901, the station also served as City Hall. The second floor housed the town offices and hose and bell tower had been added in the rear with a jail underneath.
By 1904, the station housed the Caswell Fire Company No. 1 after its formation that year. By 1908, a single-story room beside the building had been added as sleeping quarters for firemen. In 1937, both the fire department and the town offices relocated to 106 West King Street.
Continuously occupied since 1895 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building presently houses a fire museum downstairs and government offices upstairs. Seven fire hydrants from different time periods are displayed outside the building.
Photographed 2012
In 1937, both Station 1 and City Hall relocated to 106 West King Street. The fire department occupied the far right side of the building. By 1948, the fire alarm system was housed in the jail building behind City Hall. In 1962, both Station 1 and City Hall relocated to 203 East King Street. The new City Hall was dedicated on October 18, 1962.
The 10,920 square-foot former municipal building presently serves as office space.
Photographed 2012
Central Fire Station at 203 East King Street opened in 1962 along with the adjacent City Hall building. It was a two-story facility with four apparatus bays facing East King Street and a fifth apparatus bay facing the rear. It also housed the fire department's administrative offices.
Photographed in 2005
Photographed in May 2012
In March 1914, a new engine house was completed at 104 North Tiffany Street for the East Kinston Hose Reel Company. They were currently housed in the 700 block of East Caswell Street. After 1930, their two-story wooden station was replaced by a single-story brick building at the same location. After 1948, the building was expanded to include sleeping quarters in the rear. In later decades, the station also housed an engine and tanker that responded to calls in the county. The tanker was housed in an adjoining metal shed.
In 1993, Station 2's 1979 American LaFrance pumper overturned on South Queen Street. As the pumper was the last piece of apparatus that could fit inside the building, Station 2 was closed the same day.
The building is presently used as a career center.
Photographed in 2005
Kinston's third fire station opened on June 25, 1942. It was housed in a Knott's Warehouse, which bordered Washington, McLewean, and Lenoir Streets. It was equipped with "one large truck and [a] booster truck [with] chemical facilities," reported the next day's News & Observer. The new station was manned by firefighters Jesse Conway and William Hoover. It protected "the northern third of the city, where many attractive residences" were located. The owners of the warehouse donated the use of the building until "conditions permit[ted] building a fire station after the war."
Photo circa 1901, courtesy of Doug Grimes, posted to the Facebook group Kinston
and Lenoir County History
Sanborn Maps, 1948
1945 to 1961
708 N. Heritage Street
On Thursday, July 12, 1945, the Kinston Fire Department held a house-warming party for a new Station 3 at 708 N. Heritage Street. Firemen hosted city officials and a few guests with a fish stew. The single-story building was located mid-block and across from Dixie Leaf Tobacco Company. Auxiliary Fire Chief Claude Chamberlain led the event. The Kinston Auxiliary Fire Department had some 30 volunteers trained in wartime emergency firefighting and rescue work. It was noted that the squad would continue as a permanent peacetime unit. Source: News & Observer, July 19, 1945.
Courtesy Kinston Fire Department
Sanborn Maps, 1948
Two identical fire stations were opened in 1961, Station 3 at 1916 West Vernon Avenue and Station 4 at 200 North Plaza Avenue. Both were single-story brick structures.
Station 3 replaced a single-story structure at 708 N. Heritage Street that was built in [1945] and later replaced by a parking lot.
In 1998, a new Station 3 opened at 2207 Hull Road in a facility built by firefighters. The 3,117 square-foot former station is presently a car stereo shop.
Photographed in 2005
In the early 2010s, the third location of Fire Station 3 at 1916 West Vernon Avenue was renovated and rebuilt as a credit union with a covered drive-through. The address was also changed to 1910 West Vernon Avenue. The building formerly housed a car stereo shop.
Photographed in 2016
This was a two-section building located on a 0.8 acre parcel, and largely built by fire department personnel. Firefighters went to the site and worked on the structure during their shifts. They constructed about eighty-five percent of the building, with specialty contractors completing the rest.
In the summer of 2012, Station 3 was relocated to a new facility at 1247 Hill Farm Road. This was one of two identical 5,900 square-foot structures. Each had two drive-through bays, private sleeping quarters for twelve people, two offices, and a combination training room and eat-in kitchen. Plus associated equipment and storage rooms.
The buildings were designed by Davis Kane Architects. They were funded with $2.8 in USDA Rural Development loans and grants, to replacing the older stations, and provide better coverage for the Global TransPark via the new Station 2 and the growing Highway 70 West Industrial Park via the new Station 3.
The Hull Road fire station has remained vacant, and was for sale as of
January 2016.
Photographed in May 2012
This one-story structure had 3,257 total square-feet
on a 0.74 acre parcel. In the summer of 2012, a new Station 2 opened at
3428 Carey Road. The personnel and apparatus from relocated to the new
Carey Road fire station. The Plaza Boulevard fire station was purchased by
a security company, for use as a storage and support facility.
Photographed in May 2012
A version of this article was published on
FireNews.net on January 23, 2006.
Copyright 2023 by Michael J. Legeros