PHOTOS: After cigar ashes ignited a fire in Wenatcheeâs Central Market the evening of July 6, 1909, dry winds propelled the flames through several downtown streets. Most of the buildings were made of wood and easily caught fire. Dozens of businesses and residences burned â as did Wenatcheeâs first fire station, next to the jail on Columbia Street. The new metal fire bell was not damaged, but the bell tower was destroyed.
A new fire station was built at 22 S. Mission St. It stood until 1929, when the fire department moved into a classy new two-story building at 136 S. Chelan Ave. It was designed by famed Wenatchee architect Ludwig Solberg in the Beaux Arts style (symmetrical with elaborate ornamentation and a Greco-Roman influence) and has beige brick walls and an asphalt roof.
