Engine Company No. 1

If someone tells you that a generically stable-like building was once a firehouse, it most often wasn’t. That is not the case with 147 Metropolitan Avenue. This is a bona fide, and ancient (by Williamsburg  standards) firehouse. In fact, it was the home of the first fire company founded by the Village of Williamsburgh.

The Williamsburgh Fire Department was organized in 1834, when the village of Williamsburgh was just seven years old. The fire department at that time consisted of two companies - Engine Co. 1 on Metropolitan near the corner of Berry; and Engine Co. 2 located on South 2^nd Street between Berry and Bedford.1

Engine Co. 1 was originally organized as the Washington Company, although the company was also known as the Lady Washington Company (both names seem to have been used). The company was also known as the North Siders and as the Roosters. Engine Co. 2 was known as the Protection Engine Company.2

In 1836, Mutual Hook and Ladder Company 1 was organized, operating out of the same house as the Lady Washingtons. In 1844 Williamsburgh (by then a town) added a third company, Good Interest Engine Company No. 3, located at 302 Bedford Avenue near South 1^st. By 1855, Williamsburgh was a city and had 10 engine companies, three hook and ladder companies and two hose companies. With the exception of a paid fire warden, the department was all volunteers throughout this time.3 In 1858 an attempt was made to form a paid department for the Eastern District of Brooklyn4 but it was not successful. In 1869 the New York State Assembly passed a law to create a paid fire department, with separate divisions for the Eastern and Western Districts.5

The building at 147 Metropolitan Avenue was constructed in about 1861.6 This building replaced the old house, presumably dating to about 1834, which stood at the same site. Constructed in the Italianate style, the house boasts a massive cornice and large arched openings, the ones at the second story partially infilled with brick. The center opening on the ground floor now has a flat arch, but originally had a broad segmental arch opening. In the 1940 tax photo of the building, the name “1 Washington 1” set within the iron beam forming the arch above the main entrance. The pedestrian door to the right of the main entrance still retains a cast-iron rooster keystone - the last remnant of the Northside Roosters.

The City of Brooklyn tried to close Engine Company 1, along with Hose Company 5 and Ladder 1, as early as 18667 and by 1869 the companies were closed or relocated8.

• 1

  Or, using the old street names, Engine 1 was located on North Second near Third Street and Engine 2 was on South 2nd between Third and Fourth Streets.

• 2

  Our Firemen: The Official History of the Brooklyn Fire Department. Brooklyn, N.Y., 1892, 54.

• 3

  Our Firemen: The Official History of the Brooklyn Fire Department. Brooklyn, N.Y., 1892, 55.

• 4

  When the Town of Bushwick and the City of Williamsburgh were absorbed into the City of Brooklyn in 1855, Williamsburg, Bushwick and Greenpoint came to be called the Eastern District of Brooklyn. The old City of Brooklyn (which at that time only extended south as far as Red Hook) was known as the Western District.

• 5

  Our Firemen: The Official History of the Brooklyn Fire Department. Brooklyn, N.Y., 1892, 69.

• 6

  Articles discuss the house being prepared for demolition in 1860 (“Washington Fire Engine Co. No. 1,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, N.Y.), January 6, 1860, 2.) and, in 1863, the installation of a pole in front of the new house.

• 7

  “Common Council,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, N.Y.), December 11, 1866, 4 describes the property being up for lease.

• 8

  “Fire Commission,” Brooklyn Daily Times (Brooklyn, N.Y.), June 8, 1869.