Museum of San Carlos History - The Firehouse, Rebuilt
Photo: Scott Lincke
A stop on San Carlos History Walk, a free self-guided tour.
This small building with its big doors looks like a 1920s firehouse, and that is the point. In 1923 San Carlos formed a volunteer fire department, and card parties and dinners raised enough money to build a firehouse on this spot that same year. The building later served as City Hall too. After the larger fire station next door opened in 1941, the old firehouse sat empty and decayed.
In 1970 the San Carlos Lions Club took it down, planning to rebuild it in the style of the original. The new building was dedicated on July 4, 1976, for the nation's Bicentennial, and became the Museum of San Carlos History. So what you see is a re-creation on the original site.
The museum is free and run by volunteers known as the Villagers. Inside are Lamchin artifacts, historic photos, electronics history and a restored 1927 Seagrave fire engine. It opens only on certain days, so check the museum's website for current hours.
Getting here: Walk back northwest along Old County Road to the station, cross the tracks and El Camino Real, and go one block to 533 Laurel Street, beside the fire station.
Did you know?: The volunteer department's first fire truck was a white taxicab chassis fitted with a chemical truck body donated by the San Francisco Fire Department.
Photo op: From across Laurel Street, frame the museum's firehouse front together with the modern fire station beside it - old and new in one shot.
More on Wikipedia: Seagrave Fire Apparatus · Ohlone
Stops on this tour
- San Carlos Depot - The Stone Station That Started a Town
- Arguello Site - Lamchin Land and the Rancho of Fleas
- Brittan Party House - A Bohemian Hunting Lodge
- Elm Street - Victorian Hopes for a Paper Town
- City Hall - From Schoolhouse to the City of Good Living
- Casa de Flores - A Church for a Growing Town
- Terminal Way - Where San Carlos Learned to Fly
- Brittan Avenue - Airstrip, Racetrack and Radio Tubes
- Museum of San Carlos History - The Firehouse, Rebuilt
- Laurel Street - Main Street of the City of Good Living