Tenney Fire Hall

The Tenney Fire Hall, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was a small (24x14') metal-sided wood frame building with a bell tower and flag mast, located in Tenney, Minnesota.

Functions

The Fire Hall was built to house the town's two hand-pulled chemical fire engines. The engines were used in conjunction with a large curbed well with a double stroked pump, an arrangement which was not abandoned until 1924.^[3] The rearmost part of the building also contained the town jail.

History

The building was erected in 1904 and was used for many years as a meeting house, a polling station, and of course as a fire hall and jail. During the 1990s the private owner had hoped to take measures to preserve the Fire Hall and to make it a viable attraction, but his efforts were hamstrung by the state and federal regulations governing the type of actions that can be taken with regard to moving or refurbishing properties on the NRHP. In the summer of 2008 an anonymous vandal crashed a vehicle into the fire hall, badly damaging the northwestern corner of the building. In the winter or spring of 2010 the fire hall was burned to the ground.

Significance

According to the National Register's Inventory-Nomination Form, the Fire Hall was significant for the following reasons:

1. "Government functions were often centered in towns, [including] places as small as Tenney with its Fire Hall..."
2. "Though of simple metal-sided, frame construction, the diminutive Tenney Fire Hall...is a visual landmark in the small town."

References