Main Library - Fire Station No. 1 Reborn
A stop on Redwood City History Walk, a free self-guided tour.
The city's Main Library has a past life. Its older front was built around 1921 as Redwood City Fire Station No. 1, and fire engines rolled out of here for more than 60 years. Damage from the 1983 Coalinga earthquake helped push the department to a new station, and the old firehouse was remodeled into the library, keeping its historic face while a larger building grew behind it.
Books have a long history in this town. Redwood City opened its first library in 1865, and in 1904 Andrew Carnegie gave money for a new library building. The 1906 earthquake destroyed it, and Carnegie gave more to rebuild.
There is a watery link here too: Redwood Creek, the stream you crossed on Broadway, runs close by on its way toward the bay. The library houses the city's local history collection and archives. Step back to see where the old firehouse front meets the newer library.
Getting here: Walk south and west a short way to Middlefield Road and the Main Library at 1044 Middlefield, about five minutes.
Did you know?: Carnegie first gave 10,000 dollars for Redwood City's library in 1904, then another 6,000 dollars to rebuild it after the 1906 earthquake.
Photo op: From the sidewalk on Middlefield Road, frame the old firehouse front with the newer library behind it.
More on Wikipedia: Andrew Carnegie · 1983 Coalinga earthquake
Stops on this tour
- Old County Courthouse - The Dome That Outlasted the Quake
- Lathrop House - Steamboat Gothic for the First Clerk
- Fox Theatre - Gothic Dreams on Broadway
- Redwood Creek Crossing - The Buried Landing
- Broadway and Main - The Kiosk at the Old T
- Diller-Chamberlain Store - The County's Oldest Shopfront
- Main Street Corner - A Bank and a Grand Hotel
- Alhambra Theater - Opera, a Saloon and Wyatt Earp
- Main Library - Fire Station No. 1 Reborn
- Courthouse Square - Climate Best by Government Test