A grateful fire department and community rejoice as their firehouse is registered as a New York State Historical Site. The St. James fire department joins the St. James General Store, the Timothy House and other historic sites as a protected property due to its storied past. The fire department has been serving St. James and Head of the Neck for over 100 years and it all started the morning after January 1st 1922.
In the early hours of the new year, a fire ripped through St. James, prompting citizens to call a town meeting. The townspeople came together and decided to bolster their firefighting forces to prevent further devastations from occurring. The fire department is completely volunteer run, and has been since its creation. Volunteer Departments often have to ask for money through various fundraisers throughout the year. When the St. James Department was independent from a fire district preceding 1935, individual members were required to fundraise on behalf of the Department. Most of these funds were garnered during the annual carnival which started with a Grand Parade of volunteers and lasted one week. There would be amazing vaudeville and circus performances that were adored by the public.
Love of history and community runs deep at the firehouse. Fire Commissioner Tom Donohue speaks about his love for the firehouse and the motivation to get it designated as a Historic Place. “A number of years ago the board talked about selling it. CVS had approached the department to potentially buy it. There was talk of centralizing this and selling it but the taxpayers voted against both suggestions.” The people of St. James values their history and wants to keep as much of it as possible. Tom tells a story of a gentleman from the Bronx that was so moved by the display of patriotism and small town charm the historic corridor provides, he decided to relocate to St. James. “He moved from the Bronx, he came to St. James, saw all the flags up on a holiday and saw this firehouse and he's like in love with the town and decided to move out here (sic).” Such ambitions and preservation costs money, something volunteer departments are not abundant in. That is why it was incredibly important the Department attained a Historical Designation through New York State.
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Erin McDonall, owner of Grants Capacity, was an essential component to helping the firehouse qualify for the Historical Designation. The process for getting the firehouse the designation relies on two components. The first component being the site's relevance to regional history, and the second being the site's relevance to architectural design. The firehouse is designed with the Greek revival style, a style used in the early days of our country’s founding up to the mid 1930s. “The application for designation had two components, one for regional history and the other for architecture. For the regional application we referenced Long Island's rich volunteer firefighting culture, and for Architecture we referenced the building and the purpose it served.” Emily is also incredibly passionate about the unique history the building brings to the community, “something that we've seen on Long Island particularly, is in the 70’s and 80’s a lot of the historic firehouses were demolished and there's only a few left. But they are all a reflection of their individual communities. They're a tribute to the volunteers that serve the community.”
Such a historic and beloved building now has a second chance with this Historic Designation and will now be able to return to its former glory. This grant money that will be available to the Department, on top of its equipment grants, will allow the St. James community to enjoy the fire protection they have continuously enjoyed since January 1st 1922.