Duluth Fire Station is Home to Nearly 100 Years of History

Northland Uncovered: Fire Station 10

DULUTH, Minn. – The City of Duluth is home to eight fire stations.

Some of those are nearly 100 years old.

That includes Station 10 in Gary New Duluth.

It was built in 1927 and was first occupied in 1928.

Originally, the building housed both the fire department and police department, along with a library and community center.

“We had some lockers where guys would actually carve out their initials, or they would leave a little message,” Duluth Fire Department Captain Jeff Dellwo explained.

However, that’s not all they’ve found throughout the years, “there’s also log books that were here for many years that you could go back and look through yesteryear. It was interesting to look at all the statements that were made then versus what we would do now,” said Dellwo.

Working in an old building can mean some unique challenges, “For example, our door had to be increased in order to fit a modern rig,” said Dellwo, “and we still can’t fit all of our rigs through this door.”

The Station 10 crew shrank from a five-man station to a two-man station and has now grown back up to a three-man station, meaning three people are on shift at a time.

Working a shift here carries a lot of pride along with the duty.

“You can’t work here and not think about the history of the building and the number of guys that came before you,” said Dellwo.

The impression they made is something still carried on today.

“We’ve had several people that have stopped in and talk about how they used to just come and hang out with the firefighters,” said Dellwo.