408 East Montezuma Avenue
"23 students and four faculty members met for the first Michigan Mining School classes on the second floor of this building in September 1886. The fire hall served as home for the school until the present campus was begun in 1889. . . ."
In 1883, the Continental Fire Company built this two-story building as its new fire hall — to replace the original 1861 fire hall by the bridge. Built in the Second Empire style, it is one of the few remaining Second Empire buildings in the Keweenaw peninsula. The brick building features stone lintels over the windows. The flat roof was decorated with cresting and once featured a clock tower atop a cupola whose vertical space provided room for fire hoses to hang and dry. A bracketed cornice once encircled the roof edge. Under the building is a three-foot thick stone wall cistern that could hold 14 feet of water. The Fire Company included a hand engine, a steam engine with 2,500 feet of hose, a hook and ladder company, and 80 members.
Horses were kept in the basement and fire engines on the first floor. The Village of Houghton’s offices were on the second floor. In September 1886, four faculty members and 23 students held the first classes for Michigan Mining School (now Michigan Technological University) on the second floor. They continued until 1889 when the campus was begun.
In 1916, the Village of Houghton purchased the lot next door to accommodate future expansion. The fire company added a one-story brick-faced addition to its west to house two additional engines. The village added another story to the rear in 1923 which afforded “ample and safe storage facilities for the winter’s supply of hay, oats, etc.,” thereby reducing the annual cost.
In the 1930s, the City of Houghton moved its offices. The fire department moved in 1974 for more space to accommodate its modern equipment. The bell was removed in 1975 and is displayed next to the “new” fire house on Gundlach Rd. In 2010, it was renovated as a restaurant and night club, which opened in 2012 as the Continental Fire Co. Today, it is the home of the Bonfire at the Continental Fire Company, a bar and grill.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Inventory; Historic Houghton Walking Tour; MTU History; Image MTU_Book LD3328H3-vi-3