The Mt. Morris Firehouse is located on the corner of Center St. and Mckendrie Ave, within the Village of Mt. Morris. The building was commissioned to be built by local businessman Charles Sharer. Mr. Sharer along with his son ran a rapidly growing business in Mt. Morris. The Sharers sold Chevrolet automobiles and John Deere farm implements. As well as the dealership portions, the Sharer's ran a full service station where they sold gas and oil as well as repaired automobiles. They also capitalized on the lack of home garages and rented out heated storage in the building for automobiles. The building was built in 1924 by Tracy & Sons Contractors of Mt. Morris. The building is constructed of brick and mortar with a steel bow truss style roof. The brick facing Center St. (North) is of hard fired red brick and the other three sides are of soft "sand" brick. In June of 1955 the District had outgrown the two small apparatus bays at their current home at the Village Hall. The District approached the owners of the Sharer building and a deal was struck to purchase the building for $30,000.00. The District then moved it's apparatus and equipment kiddy corner across the street into their new home. Obviously the District only having three pieces of apparatus at the time couldn't fill up the building themselves, so the District rented out storage in the building to the school district for buses and to a local printing company for magazine and book storage. As the District updated the building and added apparatus they stopped renting out space. The building has been moderately well maintained over the years with several projects performed to allow the building to better serve as a firehouse. No additions have been made to the building. All of the construction was performed within the existing footprint of the building. In the late 1970's the Department's volunteers constructed a kitchen, training room, storage, and maintenance room. A new apparatus door opening was added in 1996 along the Mckendrie Ave side (East). At this time all of the existing wood overhead doors were replaced with insulated panel doors to help with energy conservation. Probably the biggest construction project occured in 2000 when the district added fulltime staffing. The existing office was converted to living quarters for the shift crews. At this time the overhang area that originally housed the gas pumps from the service station days along Center St. and Mckendrie Ave (North East) corner was enclosed. This area was used to install an ADA compliant restroom, conference room, radio room, and four offices.
East side of the Firehouse on McKendrie Ave. North side of the Firehouse on Center St.