On April 30, 1913, Montavilla residents gathered at the northeast corner of Burnside and 82nd Avenue to attend the grand opening of Fire Station No. 27. For years, the community had fought for professional fire protection. At last, it had arrived.
The need was evident as early as the early 1890s. The neighborhood was not yet part of the City of Portland, and it was on its own when it came to fighting fires. In June 1892, the residents of Montavilla’s first subdivision—Mount Tabor Villa Addition—met in their newly-created town hall to form their own volunteer fire brigade. The June 30, 1892, edition of the Oregonian reported that 56 people signed up as members. They elected officers. A committee would help raise funds for firefighting equipment. A “grand ball,” held in the town hall, raised “a handsome sum of money,” according to the Oregonian of July 20, 1892.
How often the Mount Tabor Villa Fire Company was activated is unknown. But the Oregonian reported that on the night of May 15, 1895, the brigade was called to action and partially succeeded. They were unable to save the Carlson house, but they did prevent it from spreading by throwing wet blankets onto the roof of the house next door.
Over the next few years, Montavilla’s population grew as new subdivisions were platted. Houses and commercial buildings multiplied. Better fire protection was needed. This task was taken up in 1902 by the newly formed Montavilla Board of Trade, a neighborhood improvement organization. The board’s first effort was to assess various types of fire extinguishers.
In 1902, the need was clear. In September, a Rockwood fire spread west to Montavilla and destroyed a number of houses. In October, the nearby Oriental Hall on Mt. Tabor also succumbed to flames.
William DeVeny—Montavilla’s Buffalo Bill look-alike and secretary of the Montavilla Board of Trade—advocated annexing Montavilla to the City of Portland. “For all the fire protection that we now have,” he proclaimed, “we might as well be located in the woods, many miles from the city limits.” With annexation could come local, professional fire protection.
Many Montavilla voters opposed annexation, but it finally won in 1906. Now officially part of Portland, surely Montavilla would get better fire protection as well as Bull Run water, which would boost Montavilla’s insufficient water supply, a needed resource for squelching flames.
Portland fire protection did not come quickly. In 1908, Montavilla joined the nearby Mt. Tabor and Center neighborhoods to petition the Mayor and City Council for local fire protection. They failed. In August 1909, Montavilla resident Seth Lind lost his house on East Madison Street. A month later, the Montavilla Board of Trade pleaded with the City to at least provide 1,000 feet of fire hose and a hose cart. Again, they were turned down.
City protection was still lacking when fire broke out on July 4, 1910 in one of Montavilla’s main commercial blocks. Despite the date, the fire was not caused by fireworks. It started at 4:30 am when confectionary store owner, William Armstrong, lit his gasoline stove to heat some water. He stepped away for a moment and the stove suddenly exploded, filling the store with flames. From his store in the wood-frame Leander Lewis building at the northwest corner of Stark Street and 80th Avenue it spread north to adjacent stores on 80th and west all the way to 79th Street. Soon most of that block was in ruins.
Lacking a local fire station, Montavilla residents rushed to the scene to help. They started removing goods until the rapidly spreading fire made this too dangerous. Now, residents could only fight the flames with garden hoses and buckets. At one point, the refrigerator plant in Giles’ meat market exploded, carrying the sound for miles.
By the time two east-side fire-engine companies arrived, 15 buildings lay in ruins.
The Oregon Journal estimated the total damage of the fire as $35,000. Fortunately, most businesses had insurance. Toll’s shoe store on 80th, however, was one of the uninsured, a $5,000 loss. Some businesses lost machinery as well as goods. And residents living above the stores lost clothing, furniture, and family heirlooms. These and other details of the devastating effects of the fire were reported at length in the Portland press.
Fortunately, injuries were minor. The destroyed buildings could—and would—be rebuilt, but this time with concrete and brick, not wood.
Surely now, the City of Portland would grant Montavilla a fire station. Just one day after the conflagration, the intrepid William DeVeny sprang into action and started circulating petitions for a Montavilla fire station. The Oregonian supported the petition, stating, in its July 9 edition, that “the narrow escape of the suburb from being completely destroyed has emphasized the need for a fire station and engine in the central portion of the district.” Montavilla also needed more water mains and fire hydrants: that campaign would begin in the fall.
Despite these efforts and the clear need, Mayor Simon and the Executive Board refused to grant Montavilla a fire station.
In 1911, the Montavilla Board of Trade launched another petition campaign, hoping to be more successful with the new Portland administration. By this time, Montavilla could argue that its new water mains could supply water for firefighting. The Oregonian again supported the effort, noting in its July 10, 1911, edition that the Mount Tabor fire station at E. 61st and Stark was too far away. This was demonstrated in August 1911, when Montavilla sent an alarm to that station, and its three horses refused to pull the engine over the hill.
In October 1911, signed petitions were presented to Portland’s new mayor, Allen G. Rushlight, and the Executive Board. They agreed to appropriate funds for a Montavilla fire station in the coming year. By June 1912, Battalion Chief Holden—an architect as well as a fire chief—had drawn up plans for a Montavilla station. Construction was underway by August.
The trend at this time was to use motorized vehicles, but Holden’s design would work for either horses or engines. The Montavilla station began with horsepower, but a few years later, switched to motorized trucks.
On April 30, 1913, Montavilla’s Engine Company No. 27 opened at the NE corner of Burnside and 82nd. That day, citizens were welcome to inspect the brick and concrete building, listen to a fireman’s band, and hear speeches by Mayor Rushlight, Montavilla booster William DeVeny, and others. 2,000—surely relieved–citizens attended. Finally, Montavilla had its own fire station.
Four years after the Montavilla fire station was threatened with closure. In 1917, the City of Portland decided to reduce its firefighting budget. That meant selling horses, replacing them with motorized vehicles, and eliminating three fire stations. Since Montavilla was one of the three, it seemed doomed. But the Montavilla Board of Trade fought back, arguing that Montavilla—with its 1,936 houses, 50 businesses, four schools, seven churches, and a population of 15,000—deserved local protection. The Board also protested the plan to replace horses with engines, arguing that motorized fire trucks could not traverse Montavilla’s many dirt streets. City Commissioner Bigelow pointed out that fire engines using heavy chains could get to places horse-drawn vehicles could not.
Montavilla Station 27 survived the City’s economizing effort. But horses would be replaced by motorized trucks. The new vehicles, bedecked with flowers, were displayed in the 1920s Rose Parade.
In the 1920s, the men of Engine 27 sometimes joined other firefighting units to quell blazes outside Montavilla boundaries. A headline-catching Rocky Butte fire on July 23, 1924, is one example. After spreading east, the fire headed west to 82nd Street. Before the fire was extinguished, it burned an estimated 800 acres. It took nearly 100 people to beat back the flames. Fortunately, the damage was mainly limited to grass and brush.
During the Depression years, firefighting forces were reduced for economic reasons. The Montavilla fire station lost two crew members.
Montavilla Fire Station No. 27 continued in service until 1953. As part of Portland’s fire station replacement program, it was shut down, and a new fire station—engine 19—was built at 7301 E. Burnside. It serves the Montavilla, South Tabor, Madison South, and part of the Mount Tabor neighborhoods.
The old Montavilla fire station was demolished, and the property—plus the two adjacent lots—became the site of a Carter Oil gas station in 1959. In 1986, the three lots were occupied by Sigler’s Auto Sales. Today, it is home to Cars to Go.
Montavilla was lucky to get its own fire station. As usual, in this feisty suburb, it took a community.
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This is part of Montavilla History Questions Answered, a series of history related articles. If you have questions about Montavilla’s past that you’d like answered, local historian Patricia Sanders will investigate your question. Please email your questions to history@montavilla.net and we may feature it alongside Patricia Sanders’ research in a future.