Central Fire Station 1960

Old Central Fire Station 1920’s

Fire Station 3 1964

Old Fire Station 3 1930’s

Year Organized: 1896

Year Disbanded: Became Engine 3 of the paid department in 1916

Motto: To Preserve Life and Property

North Austin Fire Company Number 6 organized on August 1, 1896, by the citizens of North Austin, principally from the 5th and 6th wards.

At the time, this area was Austin´s first suburb, named Hyde Park. H. E. Seekatz was appointed as the company´s first foreman. They initially occupied an old wooden building at the corner of 30th and Rio Grande Streets.

Sometime during 1905 or 1906, the company built a two-story brick fire hall at 3002 Guadalupe Street. The building still stands today just north of the University of Texas campus.

In 1912, the City of Austin purchased its first motorized fire engine for North Austin Fire Company 6. As early as the 1870´s the City of Austin was purchasing a majority of the equipment and paying the apparatus drivers while the personnel remained volunteer.

In 1915, Thomas Quinn of North Austin Fire Company 6 was killed in the line of duty while trying to rescue two young boys from the area of Shoal Creek and West 6th Street during one of Austin´s notorious flash floods. Fireman Quinn successfully rescued the boys before he was swept away.

In 1916, when the department transitioned from volunteer to paid, North Austin Number 6 was renamed Fire Station 3 (now referred to as “Old Fire Station 3“). This station also housed the fire department mechanic and spare equipment and was commonly referred to as the fire department shops. Fire Station 3 and the shops simultaneously occupied 3002 Guadalupe until a new Fire Station 3 was built in 1957 at 201 West 30th Street. The shops continued to occupy the old fire hall through the 1970´s. For more than 25 years (c.1980-2008) 3002 Guadalupe had been home to Ballet Austin. The downstairs portion of the building was used for administration and the upstairs was the dance studio. Now that Ballet Austin has vacated the building, 3002 Guadalupe has returned to the Austin Fire Department. In April 2010, Austin Fire Department Fire Investigations Division is scheduled to move in to the 1906 former fire station.

With the return of the 3002 Guadalupe fire station, the Austin Fire Department now operates two fire stations that are over 100 years old and date back to the horse-drawn era of firefighting. Fire Station 4, originally West Austin No. 7 and built in 1908, is the other station that originally housed horses and is currently operating as an AFD fire station.

Silas Steen “Spider” Smith was born on January 27, 1913. Prior to becoming a firefighter Steen Smith was a carpenter and brakeman for the railroad in Brownwood, TX from 1942-44. Steen was appointed hoseman to the Austin Fire Department on 8/23/1944. He spent his first year between Hose Co. 1 and Engine Co. 2. In 1945 he was assigned to Engine Co. 5. Steen was promoted to Driver in 1952 and assigned to Engine Co. 12. In 1959 Steen attained the rank of Captain I and went to Truck Co. 2. In 1968, when the Captain I rank was re-classified as Lieutenant, Steen’s rank was modified to Lieutenant. He retired in 1974 after 29 years of service. In the 1940’s Steen, along with several other firefighters, led in the organization of the Austin Firefighter’s Association. Steen got the nickname “Spider” for his lanky 6′1″ 155lb frame. As of just a few years ago, well into his 90’s, Steen often stopped by fire stations to say hello and visit with us.

On Sunday, September 20th, the Austin Fire Museum will be conducting its semi-annual open house for Austin Museum Day 2009. We’ll be open from about 1230PM to 5PM. This year we have a very special event planned. Several months ago friends and family of Shawnee, Kansas Fire Chief Verne McNatt approached the Austin Fire Museum wishing to honor his passing with a memorial in the Austin area. The Austin Fire Museum gratefully accepted donations to assist with the meticulous restoration of a unique treasure of Austin Fire Department history in memory of Chief McNatt’s dedicated commitment to his community and profession.

The Austin Fire Museum had an 1894 oil painting of Fire Chief Russell which was badly deteriorating. There was a golf ball size hole in his head and the paint was flaking off all over the picture. With the amount of money raised by Chief McNatt’s family and friends we thought that restoring this beautiful piece of art was the most appropriate project to benefit the Museum and honor McNatt’s legacy.

We hired Austin Galleries to do the restoration and they did a terrific job. We’ll reserve posting pictures of the finished piece until after the event so you’ll have to come out to the museum at 2PM on the 20th in order to see the unveiling. We’ve posted a couple of pictures from before the restoration for you to see how badly deteriorated the painting was.

The painting of Chief Russell was done by W. P. Ford, who was also a Fire Chief for the Austin Fire Department in the mid-1890’s during the volunteer era.

Wm. Verne McNatt