A Rensselaer County fire department is planning to demolish its historic former home and replace it with lawn and landscaping for a new firehouse next door. Local historians oppose the destruction of the 1873 fire house and are seeking community help to save the structure.
The West Sand Lake Volunteer Fire Company was the third rural volunteer fire company organized in the county, and the first in the town, organized about 30 years before most other companies began to be formed in the area.
Situated just south of the center of Rensselaer County, the Town of Sand Lake was officially formed on June 19th, 1812. It’s comprised of about 22,000 acres, much of which was part of the East Manor of Rensselaerswijck, belonging to the wealthy and politically powerful Van Rensselaer family.
The hamlet of West Sand Lake is located in the northwest part of town at the junction of what was the Albany Plank Road, leading from Albany to the New York – Massachusetts state line (now Route 43) and the road leading north to Troy (now Route 150).
In and around West Sand Lake, there were textile and saw mills, factories, hotels and other wooden structures. Because lakes, ponds and streams were plentiful in the region, which is in close proximity to Albany and Troy, West Sand Lake and nearby Averill Park were summer resorts in the nineteenth century, eventually served by a trolley system.
Mill owner John McLaren spearheaded the organization of the fire company at a public meeting held in 1872 after several large and very costly mill fires. The first firehouse, the one under threat today, was constructed in 1873. In April, 1874 the company purchased a hand pumper from the Lafayette Engine Company No. 3 in Lansingburgh, NY for $500.00. Originally named Old Joke by the Lafayette Engine Company, over the years its name has changed to Old Joe. The old pumper, active until the 1950s, is currently on display in the recently renovated historic 1873 fire hall in it’s original Engine Room.
In the 1970s a modern fire house was built next door. In 2011, a referendum on construction of a new firehouse was rejected by voters by a large margin.
Now, the West Sand Lake Fire Company is planning to build a new firehouse — and demolish the original historic 1873 building, replacing it with lawn and landscaping. According to local historians there is sufficient room to construct a new, modern firehouse on the site without destroying the iconic 1873 structure so saving the historic building will not impact public safety.
At its meeting on May 9th, the Board of Trustees of the Sand Lake Historical Society resolved “That the Sand Lake Historical Society formally opposes the planned demolition of the historic West Sand Lake Firehouse and strongly encourages Fire Department membership and leadership, public officials, and community leaders to seek alternative solutions.”
There will a public meeting at the West Sand Lake Firehouse on Wednesday June 14th at 7 pm. The Historical Society is asking members and supporters to attend the meeting to “tell firehouse leadership and town officials that this is unacceptable and that they need to adopt some alternative plan.”
Photos: Above, the historic 1873 West Sand Lake Fire House; and below, the current fire station constructed in the 1970s.
Is there a fundraiser to help save the structure?
It’s surprising that that the structure isn’t even registered as a historic site. Also, sometimes the cost of demolition can exceed the cost of preservation.
This must be the punch line to a very bad joke. Demolish the original structure currently housing the early fire engine for lawn and shrubbery? Lawn and shrubbery????
A new firehouse will be like the existing one, built from a generic plan, and will look like everyplace else. There will be nothing about it to give your community an identity. It will simply be yet another large building.
The present firehouse and the two shopping centers have seriously eroded the town’s identity by replacing the town center with parking lots. The proposed destruction of the historic firehouse will add to the growing loss of identity with a pointless lawn.
When teaching my classes, I have said for years, ‘We recycle can and bottles, and throw away whole buildings….’ Where is the logic in that? This building is worth a great deal than a dump truck of plastic bottle and aluminum cans. 20 years from now, what will your children say when they see that nice mowed lawn? ‘Oh we like that much better than an historic firehall with its original antique engine?’
The historic firehouse is a unique historic community resource, an important Victorian building. It could become one of your painted ladies. It looks like your town, not a generic building that that looks like everywhere else. Save it for community pride and community identity. Remember that heritage tourism is a massive part of the tourism industry.
Throw it a birthday party fair every year as an attraction for community pride, and to attract tourism business. Establish a Steam Fair for antique equipment. Steam Fairs are very popular, and you could have competitions to see how far engines will throw a plume of water.
Why not lease some of the space in the building? Use it for historic displays?
One note of caution. Federal funds may not be used to destroy an historic building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, nor used to destroy a building of National Register quality, or a building that with restoration, can and will be placed on the National Register. Furthermore the demolition cannot be paid for with other funds traded for the federal funds, which would be used in other portions of the project.
Check with the state’s historic preservation office. I can guarantee that this building, with some restoration, will qualify for the National Register.
That means federal funds are out for this project.