BROOKLYN FIRE DEPARTMENT 1897
The Dutch settled the town of Bushwick in 1660. The original Dutch name for the area was Boswijck meaning “heavy woods”. The town of Bushwick was annexed by the City of Brooklyn in 1854. The German influx to the north added eleven operating breweries between 1850 to 1880. Southern Bushwick remained a farming community until the mid 1880’s. In 1889, the construction of an elevated railway from Manhattan fostered tremendous population growth to Bushwick. As the southern area developed, the need for additional fire companies became evident. Brooklyn organized eighteen new fire companies in 1896 including Engine 52.
On December 20, 1895, the BFD purchased a 25×100 foot plot for Engine 52’s firehouse from Mary L. Mintonge and William Van Voorhees for $2,400. The Parfitt Brothers, a leading Brooklyn architectural firm, was commissioned to design the new firehouse in early 1896. On May 20, 1896, the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper reported fierce competition among contractors bidding the job due to the architectural design. The new firehouse would be three stories, designed in a Flemish Revival style that would feature a prominently scrolled front gable and a roof top garden. The front façade would consist of brick and red sandstone from Lake Superior, detailed with a carved terra-cotta lintel and fluted iron pilasters. The ground floor contained sufficient room for the apparatus – consisting of a steam engine and hose carriage or “tender”. Stalls for four horses were located behind the tender. The second floor contained officer’s quarters to the front and the firemen’s dormitory to the rear. One of the newer designs incorporated into Engine 52’s house was a hose tower that facilitated drying fire hoses. Leonard Brothers was the winning contractor who built the firehouse for $16,947. Today the firehouse remains much the same as it was over 100 years ago.
HISTORICAL LANDMARK
In March of 1995, FDNY took over the EMS Division of the Health and Hospital Corporation. All firemen were trained as CFR-D technicians. On October 19, 1995, the Landmarks Preservation Commission of the City of New York designated Engine Company 252 a Landmark and the firehouse at 617 Central Avenue as its Landmark Site. The following excerpt was extracted from the official record:
“On the basis of careful consideration of the history, the architecture, and other features of this building, the Landmarks Preservation Commission finds that Engine Company 252 has a special character and a special historical and aesthetic interest and value as part of the development, heritage, and cultural characteristics of New York City.”
“The Commission further finds that, among its important qualities, Engine Company 252 is significant as one of the most distinguished firehouses in New York City; that it is an important building reflecting the expansion of civic architecture in the independent City of Brooklyn in the late nineteenth century; that as a major work by Parfitt Brothers, one of Brooklyn’s finest architectural firms, it is an important architectural monument in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn; that as an example of Flemish Revival style architecture, it illustrates the popularity of this mode of colonial design in the New York City area with its heritage as a Dutch colonial settlement; and that it is a well-maintained civic building that continues to be used for its original purpose.”
Engine 252 is the only landmark firehouse in continuous use since its inception 100 years earlier.
1998 FDNY SQUAD COMPANY 252
On July 1, 1998, Engine 252 was reorganized as Squad 252 and assigned to the Special Operations Command of the FDNY. – FDNY Squad 252 History
