The History of the Belmont Firehouse

By Don Nelson

900 SE 35th Avenue (at Belmont) Portland, Oregon 97214

Fire protection began in the Sunnyside neighborhood in the mid 1890s when the Portland Fire Department's Hose Company No.5 came into existence. The two man operation, which included a couple of horses and a hose wagon, occupied a rented building at Southeast 34th and Yamhill. It relocated to a structure at Southeast 35th and Belmont around 1898; this building was later sold to the City of Portland in 1904.

Engine Company No.9 replaced the hose company in 1904. An inventory of its firefighting apparatus included an engine and hose wagon combination, 2,000 feet of cotton hose, two horses and one double set harness. Several firemen lived at the station; most of the other firemen lived in the neighborhood.

A new station at the same location, designed by Architects, Willard F. Tobey and Wayne L. Mills, replaced the wood structure in 1912. Horses and their stalls shared space with the fire apparatus on the main floor, while residential accommodations were upstairs. Fire poles provided quick access to the fire equipment below. Within two years the station had motorized equipment; the horses were no longer needed. Many retired fire horses were reassigned to other city duties such as pulling park bureau and street cleaning wagons; others were sent out to farms.

Over the years fire engines increased in size, which made the exit through the old doors of the station difficult. The doors facing Southeast 35th were removed in 1963 and replaced by one large door.

In July of 2003, Station 9 relocated to a new building on Southeast 39th Avenue South of Hawthorne . The old station, now known as the Historic Belmont Firehouse, serves as the Safety Learning Center & Fire Museum, which is co-facilitated by Portland Fire & Rescue and the Jeff Morris Fire & Life Safety Foundation's.