One of Little Rock’s least known museums is also one of its coziest and friendliest. That’s partly because its century-old building also houses a hostel for overnight stays.
Firehouse Hostel & Museum occupies a Craftsman-style structure on the fringe of MacArthur Park, adjoining Arkansas Fine Arts Center’s construction site. Built in 1917 as Fire Station 2, it served that purpose until 1960, when the newest generation of fire trucks became too large to fit inside.
Visitors are welcome to tour the free museum, which shares the first floor of the two-story site with the hostel’s kitchen, breakfast, lounge and work areas. There’s usually a staff member or two on hand to answer questions. With advance notice, guided tours by retired firefighters can be arranged.
The link between the building’s dual purposes is literally spelled out on the 23 stairs between the two floors. Each step up to the sleeping areas is marked with the name and address of a Little Rock fire station. Another tie, in the breakfast area, is two tables made from the firehouse’s original doors.
Museum exhibits echo Little Rock’s evolving history of firefighting, which began in 1839 when the young state capital bought a fire engine with a $5,000 loan and organized a volunteer fire department. Urban fires were rampant in the 19th century, which finally saw the creation of Little Rock’s first full-time, paid fire department in 1882. A few museum exhibits date back to that era.
Fire engines were motorized by 1917, when Fire Station No. 2 opened with a large front porch that gave access to the station’s two parking bays. The porch, later enclosed, is now the location of the hostel’s kitchen. Museum artifacts decorate the space, with a fire pole still in place at one corner.
One table holds a playful display of miniature figures with firefighting motifs. The objects include teddy bears with fire hats, a scale-model fire truck, a small dalmatian and a roly-poly fireman.
By contrast, a sign reminds visitors of the dangers inherent in the actual work of combating fires. It lists some of the largest death tolls suffered by American firefighters at a single event. At the top of the tallies, unsurprisingly, are the 343 firefighters lost in the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center on 9/11.
These are the next four highest death totals: 78 at a 1910 forest fire in Idaho; 29 at a 1910 stockyards fire in Chicago; 28 at a 1947 ship fire and explosion in Texas City, Texas; and 19 at a 2013 forest fire near Yarnell Springs, Ariz.
Another reminder of firefighting’s hazards is a small model of the Arkansas Fallen Firefighters Memorial that stands on the State Capitol grounds. The monument honors the 122 fatalities suffered in the line of duty, including two women.
Dating to 1890 is an engraved speaker’s trumpet of the kind used back then to help amplify a fire commander’s orders at the noisy scene of a blaze. Among more recent devices is a combination fire alarm and automatic sprinkler donated by Dr. Dean Kumpuris, a Little Rock city director.
After a larger Fire Station No. 2 was opened in 1960 at Ninth and Sherman streets, the old building survived through a checkered half-century before the hostel and museum opened.
It was employed at various times for activities by groups such as the Council on Aging and Meals on Wheels. The predecessor to the Museum of Discovery used it for storage until 1997, when the city’s Parks and Recreation Department took over management.
After the structure was damaged in the tornado that struck downtown Little Rock in January 1999, the city spent $75,000 on repairs. In 2006, use of the building was donated to the nonprofit Hostelling Arkansas Inc. It took a decade of fundraising and other challenges before the 2016 opening. The hostel and the museum remain widely unfamiliar to the general public.
Firehouse Hostel & Museum
- Address: 1201 Commerce St., Little Rock
- Admission: Free
- Hours: Open during the day whenever a staff member is present
- Information: firehousehostel.org; (501) 476-0294