Fire Station No. 11

The origins of the Kansas City Fire Department History dates to 1858, with the formation of the first volunteer fire department. The City’s fire-fighting capabilities grew over the next few decades and began hiring full time fire fighters, creating a modern and efficient force that, in 1882, was featured at a Paris Exposition.  It was during this period that Fire Station No. 11 was first organized in 1890.

The first location was in a tent on Independence Ave between Park Ave and Brooklyn. On July 3, 1890, the city completed the building at 1309 Independence Ave., and the station stayed at this location until 1908.  This location was in the Lincoln-Coles and Belvidere Hollow areas of Kansas City, one of the most populated African American enclaves located throughout the city.

In 1908, a new station was built at 1812 Vine Street, in the heart of the emerging African American community around 18th & Vine Streets. This move reflected the growing segregation in the city that concentrated African Americans from areas around the city in an area bounded by Independence Ave on the north, Troost on the West, 27th Street on the South and Cleveland on the East. The station stayed at this location until 1931, when they moved to 2033 Vine Street.  The building at 1812 Vine was demolished in 1967 for a parking lot. 

The jobs provided by the fire station, along with hiring of black policemen, present a significant, if limited, example of patronage awarded to African American communities during a decades-long period of machine politics, often dispensed as rewards for voter support. Kansas City’s unique political arrangement ensured that black workers composed a much greater share of many city jobs than elsewhere in Missouri and urban communities more broadly.

The Fire Station No. 11 was listed on the Kansas City Register of Historic Places on April 2, 2009.

While African American hires represented only a small percentage of government employees locally and were mostly working in wholly segregated environments like General Hospital #2, Lincoln School, or Fire Station #11, these employment centers provided many of the local opportunities for skilled labor for African Americans of the time.

In 1931, the city awarded the design contract for a new station at 2033 Vine St. to Robin A. Walker, with city architect, James O’Connor supervising.  Fire Station No. 11 reflects elements of the Art Deco style, and it represents one of Kansas City’s early projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration. The company stayed at this location until 1977, when the station was closed as part of a citywide consolidation and update of the fire stations. After its closing, the building became the headquarters of the Black Archives of Mid America, Inc., founded only a few years before by Horace M. Peterson III, before its facilities moved to a larger location at the former Parks and Recreation Maintenance building at Parade Park.

The fire station was listed on the Kansas City Register of Historic Places on April 4, 2009.