Kansas City Fire Department Headquarters; Central Exchange

Completed in 1906, this stately structure served as the headquarters for the Kansas City Fire Department and was known as Fire Station No. 2. Considered one of the finest examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in the city, the building features a grand temple facade composed of four square pedestal bases, three ornamental stone saucers, four large, ribbed Doric columns supporting an entablature, and recessed arched windows. Not only did the building offer a grand appearance, it was also one of the best-equipped and most efficient fire stations in the country at the time of its construction. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. From 1984 until 2020, the building was home to Central Exchange, a women's leadership organization that was established in 1979 by Beth Smith and Marjorie Powell Allen.

Organized firefighting began in Kansas City in 1858 when a volunteer fire brigade was established. When there was a fire, church bells were rung to call the volunteers who met at the scene of the fire. Two years later, a volunteer company was created. In 1869, the McGee Hook and Ladder Company, named after former Mayor Milton McGee, was established but it was not enough to serve the growing city. As a result, in August 1871, the city established the first salaried fire department. Six years later, the city built the first fire department headquarters, which also housed House Company No. 2.

The city approved the construction of the present fire station building in 1905 after many years of planning. The city's fire chief traveled to Chicago and New York City to study their fire department facilities. Fire Station No. 2 cost $70,000 to build and the city asked local architects Albert Turney and Samuel E. Edwards to design it to be "...the most imposing public building in Kansas City." Construction was finished in late summer of 1906. Some of the stone slabs of the building weigh 15 tons and were the largest stones used in a building in the city up to that point.

The first floor housed fire apparatuses, horse stalls, harness rooms, and lounging rooms. There were up to 12 pieces of fire apparatus in the station which was the largest number housed in a fire station in the country at the time. The second floor contained the dormitory (for up to 62 firefighters), offices, lockers, showers, operators' room, and offices of the fire chief and other fire department officials. A gym (the largest in a fire station at the time), the fire alarm system, and the newspaper reporters' room were located on the third floor.

Central Exchange, A Kansas City organization dedicated to empowering women acquired the building in 1984 and completed a renovation of the historic structure in 1998. In 2020, the Central Exchange moved to the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

"Central Exchange History." Central Exchange. Accessed August 9, 2022. https://centralexchange.org/our-history.

"Explore Our History." Kansas City Fire Historical Society. Accessed August 9, 2022. https://www.kcfdmuseum.com/history.

Uguccioni, Ellen J. "Fire Department Headquarters; Fire Station No. 2." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. September 2, 1982. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Fire%20Dept.%20HQ%2C%20Fire%20Station%20%232.pdf.