{"nrhp_refnum":"75000250","name":"Fire Station No. 4","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"79 S. 6th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Bedford","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.62823213200005,"lon":-70.92668238899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-07-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Politics/Government","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fire Station #4 is a brick municipal fire station at 79 South Sixth Street, at the corner of Bedford Street, in New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts. It was built in 1867 and has a west-side addition designed by Frank Avrilio.","why_significant":"The station is described as the oldest operational fire station in New Bedford and, so far as is known, in Massachusetts. Its original log books run from 1867 to 1913. The building and the equipment housed in it reflect the growth of the New Bedford Fire Department and of urban fire departments generally.","narrative":"Fire Station #4 stands at the northwest corner of South Sixth and Bedford Streets in New Bedford. Built in 1867, the brick building has a hip roof angled toward the intersection, brick corbeling at the cornice, and a hose tower with Romanesque detailing. Heavy lintels and posts frame the wide vehicle doors, which were widened in the early 1900s when motor vehicles replaced horse-drawn pumpers. A stable wing on the west side was raised to two stories before 1890, and an addition designed by Frank Avrilio housed the department's repair shop. The station is recognized as the oldest operational fire station in New Bedford and, so far as is known, in Massachusetts. Firefighters keep daily log books from 1867 to 1913 recording fires, equipment purchases and meetings. A. M. Howland, station foreman in 1867 and later mayor, was associated with it. The station still answers alarms, and the addition was being prepared as a firefighting museum.","period_of_significance":"nineteenth century (specific date 1867)","architect_builder":"Frank Avrilio (designer of the west addition)","architectural_style":"Federal Colonial (Adam's style) with Romanesque detailing and Romanesque Revival elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in operation as a fire station; the west addition was being rehabilitated to house a Firemen's Museum at the time of nomination.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.8502-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/82/7945/63794582/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/75000250.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000250/4dff53b495-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000250/4dff53b495-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Daniel Case","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Bedford_Fire_Museum.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Daniel Case</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Bedford_Fire_Museum.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"76000229","name":"County Street Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/county-street-historic-district-76000229/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794582","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bedford_Fire_Museum","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7005460"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/fire-station-no-4-75000250/"}