I’ve been tasked to give a brief lecture on any topic related to my fire department. (Oklahoma City Fire) It’s a task given to some of the rookies. I’ve decided I would like to do a deep dive into where we have had fire stations in the past. I was inspired after my Officer pointed out a building to another firefighter and mentioned how he believed it use to be a fire station. I figured if if the 15+ years officer wasn’t sure where our stations are it would be a fun thing to research.
The problem is I have no idea where to begin looking for this information. The library had nothing. There’s some information from old books in the stations but as far as I can tell I haven’t found a complete record of station locations/changes.
Quick info: The department was formed as voluntary in 1889 and became full time in 1894.
I’d start with the Sanborn fire insurance maps. Library of Congress has a good archive. Here’s Oklahoma City: https://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/sanborn/city.php?CITY=Oklahoma%20City&stateID=43
Looks to me like the central station was in the middle of the block between harvey and Robinson, grand and main, with alley access to Harvey/robinson (block 34 in the 1894 map). These maps have so much good stuff though, they should be a blast to comb through.