Tenney Fire Hall

Infobox_nrhp | name =Tenney Fire Hall
nrhp_type =

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caption =
location= 200 Concord Ave, Tenney Minnesota
lat_degrees = 46 | lat_minutes = 02 | lat_seconds = 39.8 | lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 96 | long_minutes = 27 | long_seconds = 11.7| long_direction = W
locmapin=Minnesota
area = 336 square feet
built = 1904 [ [http://www.nr.nps.gov/iwisapi/explorer.dll?IWS_SCHEMA=Cover&IWS_LOGIN=1&IWS_REPORT=100000008 Impromptu Web Query ] ]
architect= A. W. Haugen
architecture=
added =July 17, 1980
governing_body = Local
refnum=80002186 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
mpsub=Wilkin County MRA

The Tenney Fire Hall, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a small (24x14') metal-sided wood frame building with a bell tower and flag mast, located in Tenney, Minnesota.

Functions

The Fire Hall was built to house the town's two hand-pulled chemical fire engines. The engines were used in conjunction with a large curbed well with a double stroked pump, an arrangement which was not abandoned until 1924. [unpublished town history compiled by the city for its 1985 centennial, author uncredited] The rearmost part of the building also contained the town jail.

History

The building was erected in 1904 and was used for many years as a meeting house, a polling station, and of course as a fire hall and jail. During the 1990s the private owner had hoped to take measures to preserve the Fire Hall and to make it a viable attraction, but his efforts were hamstrung by the state and federal regulations governing the type of actions that can be taken with regard to moving or refurbishing properties on the NRHP. Today the Fire Hall is still privately owned and in poor condition. In the summer of 2008 an anonymous vandal crashed a vehicle into the fire hall, badly damaging the northwestern corner of the building.

ignificance

According the the National Register's Inventory-Nomination Form, the Fire Hall is significant for the following reasons:

#"Government functions were often centered in towns, [including] places as small as Tenney with its Fire Hall..."
#"Though of simple metal-sided, frame construction, the diminutive Tenney Fire Hall...is a visual landmark in the small town."

References