The area's oldest fire station is now owned by a private investor. Developer Dominic Marchiondo recently bought Youngstown's Station 7 at the corner of Madison and Elm on the North Side.
Several years down the road it'll be vacated. Marchiondo plans on converting it to maybe a restaurant or coffee shop. But for now, it's still a fire station, just like it has been for over a hundred years.
You'll find all the modern conveniences at Youngstown's Station 7. A motorized truck, electric lights, even a PA system. But scattered among the amenities are a cornerstone that reads 1903, and the remnants of an old wooden floor.
The ceiling's original. And when one of the pipes is shaken, oats come out, left over from horses that once lived there, too.
"They would take the harnesses off and the harnesses, they would pull them up and the horses would just walk around," said Capt. Ron Myers. "And when the bell would hit, the horses would run right underneath the harness, they would drop the harnesses down on the horses and away they go."
Myers has spent most of his 34 years as a fireman at Station 7, hands down the area's oldest still in operation. It's the fourth oldest in all of Ohio and the 33rd oldest in the nation.
The horses were gone by 1914, at which time the building had a third floor. By the 1940s, it was deemed unsafe and removed.
Walking through the second floor living quarters, one can only imagine the people who've manned the station. Some still make occasional appearances.
"Myself, I've heard what sounds like channels changing on the TV at night time or someone just making creaking noises walking around," said Firefighter Kenny Johnson.
For a long time, Station 7 doubled as a social center. It had the neighborhood's first TV, which everyone came to watch. Rayen High School's rifle team even used the basement for target practice.
And, yes, there's a fire pole there, something you'd never find in a modern station. And yes, they still use it.
But the neighborhood is modernizing. The old homes have been replaced by an apartment complex to house Youngstown State University students. Eventually the station will likely close, and that will be a sad day.
"Oh God, yeah, yeah, 110 years already," said Myers. "It's sad now. I have to retire next year. I'm going to hate leaving."
But leave they will. Someday Youngtown's Station 7 may be reduced to serving burgers and beers.
