Photo of site from March 2026.
← Engine House No. 3 [demolished] & Station 3 | Engine House No. 4 [demolished] & Station 4 | Engine House No. 5 & Station 5 →
Engine House No. 4 was one of Columbus’s Victorian-era fire stations. Like many of its contemporaries, it has been demolished, but this time it was specifically for construction of the interstate.
Engine House No. 4 was located at 147 East Russell Street in the Italian Village neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. Its site is currently bordered by Hamlet Street to the north, I-670 to the south, 4th Street to the east, and 3rd Street to the west.
History
The Flowers Engine House in 1888. (Wikimedia)
The earliest incarnation of Engine House No. 4 was built in June 1874 as the Flowers Engine House. Its name came from J. R. Flowers, a city councilman who financially supported the fire department, as some early fire stations were named after benefactors. Located at 479 North High Street, it stood on the northern edge of downtown just south of I-670, and it was west of the current Greater Columbus Convention Center. In its time, it was also the first fire station north of Union Station. Though an attractive (if clumsily proportioned) Italianate design, the Flowers Engine House lacked a tower to dry hoses, so it was replaced by a new Engine House No. 4 in either 1888 or 1892. After this, the former Flowers Engine House was used as Evans & McAllister’s shoe store.
Historic photo of Engine House No. 4 in 1894. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)
Engine House No. 4 was a Richardsonian Romanesque design by architect John Flynn, who designed the first six numbered “engine houses.” (Nos. 5 and 6 still stand.) It had a tall hose tower that its predecessor lacked, and the roof had particularly interesting gables and a large central turret that seemed to be influenced by Shingle-style architecture.
Engine House No. 4 was an important cultural center for Italian Village. During the Great Depression, it was the neighborhood’s distribution center for food relief. The firefighters themselves made great efforts to engage with the local children. After the Columbus Dispatch asked readers to bring broken toys to fire stations, the firefighters repaired and painted them, later giving them to children on Christmas. Engine House No. 4’s firefighter Potsy Miller even dressed up as Santa Claus. In warmer weather, the firefighters played with children using hoses and the fire hydrant outside the station.
Looking west down the eventual route of I-670 via the 3rd Street bridge, which is just west of Engine House No. 4’s site. Every single building visible in this picture no longer stands, except for the Yukon Building on High Street. (All Columbus Data)
This station operated until 1940 or 1945 (again, my sources differ), and it was demolished by the 1960s for the construction of the Goodale Expressway (now I-670). Even though that highway mostly followed the path of pre-existing railroad tracks, it still obliterated a tiny corner of Italian Village at its southern border.
The Modern Engine House No. 4. (Wikimedia)
In 1957, a new Engine House No. 4 opened at 2266 Lockbourne Road on the far south side of Columbus. Unusually, the city maintained the historic name instead of “Fire Station 4.” The building itself was built in 1941 as a fire station for Marion Township, and the city of Columbus acquired it in 1957. The second Engine House No. 4 was used by the fire department until 1975. As of 2007, the structure was still owned by the city, but as part of the Department of Engineering & Construction. Its demolition was approved in 2021, since the structure was aging and its roof was at risk of collapse.
The existing Station 4. (Wikimedia)
Columbus’s current Fire Station 4 is located at 3030 Winchester Pike on the southeast end, right before the Outerbelt. It opened in 1975. Like the 1941 building, it is a Modern design.
Photos
Here’s another historic photo from the Columbus Neighborhoods website, with some Italianate houses in the background:
Looking south towards the site today from the southern end of Hamlet Street:
Remember, the building was on Russell Street, which ran about where the on-ramp is today. I would have been impeding traffic if I was at its actual site.
Sources:
https://www.shortnorth.com/BenHayesRecalls.html
https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/columbusmaps/id/4892/rec/9
https://www.farsouthcolumbus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/FSCAC_Minutes_9.2.21.pdf
https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/ohio/id/11212/rec/5
https://allcolumbusdata.com/before-and-after-goodale-expressway/
https://allcolumbusdata.com/road-and-highway-system-history/
https://columbusneighborhoods.org/tag/italian-village/page/2/
https://www.columbus.gov/Services/Public-Safety/Fire/Find-a-Fire-Station/Station-4
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