Central Fire Station (Edison Plaza)

The Central Fire Station opened in 1929 after five years of construction and remained in use until 1981. The early twentieth-century Georgian Revival style architecture exists as one of a group of civic structures attributed to local architects and construction firms employed by the city responsible for the design and erection of numerous public buildings before the Great Depression arrived in 1930. Central Fire Station (also known today as Edison Plaza) survives as one of Schenectady's largest, most sophisticated historic fire stations. The firehouse serves as a reminder of the city's distinction of maintaining an award-winning fire department noted for its technological sophistication and effective administration of a department mainly comprised of volunteers.

Schenectady's earliest known organized fire department arose in 1796 when volunteer teams directed bucket brigades. One year later, the team acquired its first pumping engine, which consisted mainly of a tub on wheels fitted with a nozzle. But a significant fire in 1810 demonstrated the team's ineffectiveness, so the city responded by creating groups of firefighting volunteers throughout the city -- the birth of firefighting units and stations. By the mid-nineteenth century, volunteer companies enjoyed special admiration for their work. Residents attended athletic competitions where each team competed against each other. The groups also participated in parades and attended civic gatherings. By 1862, a city charter designated the organized volunteer groups as Schenectady's official fire department, which continued for a century. 

Although later than most cities, Schenectady began using horse-drawn equipment by the 1890s and routinely used modernized equipment primarily imported from Europe. By 1898, the city recognized six official stations and made plans to build a three-story central station where the County Office Building now exists (the municipality demolished the first central fire station). The central station opened in 1900 and served the town for three decades, and housed the department's most modernized equipment. The same year the station opened, the city began paying a small group of fireman, but its volunteer force still made up the vast majority of the department.

By 1924, the fire department consisted of several fire station facilities, and every department's equipment was fully mechanized. The central station no longer proved suffice, so the city planned to build the Central Fire Station. The new facility housed ninety volunteers and sixty-one paid firefighters who worked for Fire Protection Company #1, as well as a hose company, hook & ladder company, and administrative offices. The grand, refined structure enjoyed a Georgian Revival style and opened in 1929. Although no record exists of the principal architect, most argue the group who handled the project consisted of a collection of local architects and construction firms who built numerous public buildings before 1930. The interior included dorms, dining facilities, and spaces for meetings and recreation. From 1929 until the mid-twentieth century, the Schenectady fire department routinely won awards for its training, techniques, equipment, safety, and fire prevention programs.

The volunteer-driven system ended in 1960 when paid firefighters became the official core of Schenectady's fire department. By the 1970's the size and equipment of Central Fire Station proved obsolete. Thus, the city financed plans to construct a new central firehouse; the historic station ended operations in 1981. The Niagara-Mohawk Power Corporation moved into the facility a few years later and remained there until 1995. Around that time, the building came to be known as Edison Plaza, an office complex. Schenectady Hardware and Electric, which opened in 1923, purchased the historic building in 1998 and remains there today. However, plans are being made by the hardware company to move into another landmark building. 

Buell, Bill. "Discover Downtown: Edison Plaza was home of fire department in 1929." (Schenectady) September 8, 2013. https://dailygazette.com/2013/09/08/discover-downtown_wp/.

Todd, Nancy. "Nomination Form: Central Fire Station." National Register of Historic Places. archives.gov. April 11, 1985. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321665.