100 South Main Street

Building Name (Common)

Ambulance & State Police Building

Building Name (Historic)

Colchester Fire Station

Notable features of Building or Site (Interior and Exterior)

A two-story vernacular structure, the former Colchester Fire Station consists of a central, gabled-roof section built in the early 20th century and two side wings built in 1957 and 1962 respectively. The main, central section contains two modest garage door openings on the ground floor of the northeast elevation. Located above these large equipment openings are two sets of paired 6/1 double-hung sash. Each of the side wings features a single large door opening to the front and is covered by a shed roof. The entire facade around the door openings is clad in a modern brick veneer that extends up to two feet beyond the wall plane. The north and south side elevations are also clad in brick veneer with a series of small window openings and a door to the front of each wall.

Historical or Architectual Importance

The heavily altered building is an example of vernacular construction from the early 20th century.

The Colchester-Hayward Volunteer Fire Department was organized in 1854, prompted by the donation of modern, fire-fighting equipment by Nathaniel Hayward of the Hayward Rubber Company. The local fire company built a fire house on the site of the current building soon after. The current building is either a drastic remodeling of this earlier structure or a complete replacement erected circa 1920-1930, as reflected in the upper floor windows and the simple interior framing.