The brick and stone two-story building with a cupola, directly across the street, was Trinidad's first city building, serving not only as Firehouse No. 1 but also as the city hall, police department, and jail. Until it was built in 1888, city government and service departments were in rented quarters all over town.
City offices and council meeting rooms were on the second floor, along with the police department and firemen's quarters. The first floor housed the fire-and pumping wagon, with horses stabled out back. The three-cell jail was a catacomb like affair in the cellar.
The fire department had an ingenious alarm system with electrical signal boxes throughout the town which sounded a bell at the station and displayed which box had been activated. The brass pole the firemen slid down for rapid response is still in place.
The building served as city hall until the present one was built in 1909. The police department and jail moved to the county courthouse after it was completed in 1912, but the fire department utilized the station into the 1960s.
Still owned by the city, the building today is a "hands-on" Children's Museum operated by the Trinidad Junior Historical Society.
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