To celebrate Black History Month, we’ll be using each Day in Denver History segment throughout February to spotlight a Black Denverite(s) who has helped shape our city. This week: The firefighters of Denver Station 3.
Earlier this month, Denver firefighters gathered at the historic Station 3 firehouse in Five Points to recreate old photographs featuring some of the station’s original crew members. It was an event to celebrate and commemorate the storied past of the station that once housed Denver’s first Black firefighters.
In service since 1931, Fire Station 3 is the oldest active firehouse in Denver, and as the city’s only single-bay station, it’s also the smallest. (For the architecture buffs, we’re looking at a one-story Spanish Bungalow-style building designed by C. Francis Pillsbury.) But it is most notable as the only station in the city where Black firefighters could work up until 1957 when the Denver Fire Department desegregated.
“I was able to stand on the shoulders of those individuals who fought so hard to open up the doors for us to try to accelerate,” said Rod Juniel, Denver’s first Black Fire Chief, in an interview for the City’s “I AM DENVER” series.
In 1994, the city recognized the firehouse as an official Denver landmark. The photo above is but a single snapshot of the station’s history — you can scroll through dozens of old photographs documenting the station’s evolution over the years in 5280Fire’s online archive.
Station 3 Fun Facts:
- The Five Points firehouse is reportedly haunted.
- The station motto is “Pride of the Points.”
