{"nrhp_refnum":"77000193","name":"Central Fire Station","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"40 Pleasant St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brockton","county":"Plymouth County","state":"MA","lat":42.08503368200007,"lon":-71.02097525799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-07-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Invention"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Central Fire Station is a three-story red brick fire station at 40 Pleasant Street in downtown Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, built in 1884 and designed by Waldo V. Howard.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a well preserved and maintained example of the Second Empire style, one of the finest in Brockton. It is also cited for a technological achievement: completed a year after the Edison Electric Illuminating Company power station began operating, it is described as the first electrically illuminated fire station in the nation.","narrative":"Central Fire Station, at 40 Pleasant Street in downtown Brockton, is a three-story red brick building with a granite foundation, a slate mansard roof and a corbelled brick cornice. Completed in 1884, it has a symmetrical north facade with a projecting central pavilion, two engine bays with paneled wooden doors, and decorative dormers. A hose drying tower once held the bell used as the fire alarm. Its exterior has changed little over time, apart from a small west wing added later. The building was designed by Waldo V. Howard, a successful late nineteenth-century Brockton architect who also designed the Satucket Block, the Gardner Block and the First Universalist Church. It was listed as a well preserved example of Second Empire architecture and for its link to early electric lighting. Finished a year after the Edison Electric Illuminating Company station began operating, it is described as the first electrically illuminated fire station in the country. It remains a working fire station.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific date 1884)","architect_builder":"Waldo V. Howard","architectural_style":"Second Empire","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a fire station; the exterior has changed little since 1884, though a one-story wing was added to the west side at an unknown date.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:55.006339-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/18/7966/63796618/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/77000193.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000193/ff77eb81f6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000193/ff77eb81f6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central_Fire_Station,_Brockton_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central_Fire_Station,_Brockton_MA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100010689","name":"North Downtown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/north-downtown-historic-district-100010689/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796618","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Fire_Station_(Brockton,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5061078"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/plymouth-county/central-fire-station-77000193/"}