E. Romero Hose & Firehouse
E. Romero Hose & Firehouse Project Chosen as 1 of 25 Downtown MainStreets in America for National Campaign to “Vote Your MainStreet”
In June 2017, MainStreet de Las Vegas was invited to apply for up to $150,000 to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to restore an historic building with cultural importance to the community. “We applied for the E. Romero Hose & Fire Co. building on Bridge street to restore the first floor to honor and celebrate our Volunteer Fire Department, the Acequia Madre and the 1937 Seagrave Firetruck and 1888 hose cart to become a museum for visitors and locals.” Said Cindy Collins, Executive Director. It took two solid weeks to write the application by our team of Wid Slick, Michael Siewert and Ray Valdez. Last month we were notified that Las Vegas’ application was accepted and we would be ONE of 25 downtown main street projects in a national competition called Partners in Preservation!”
Partners in Preservation is an initiative created by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express to engage the public in preserving and increasing awareness of America’s historic places and their role in sustaining local communities.
History of E. Romero Hose & Fire Building and How it Was Saved:
Built in 1882, burned and rebuilt in 1909, the E. Romero Hose & Fire Building is the home of the first volunteer fire department in the State of New Mexico. When Bridge Street was first being developed, The Volunteer Fire Department was given first choice in locating its building and chose the site because the Acequia Madre runs underneath! This allowed them to pump water from the acequia into the horse drawn fire trucks!
Saving the Building & Preserving our History:
2009: The building had been vacant for years and was used for storage and the roof was failing. So MSLV began it’s first “Façade Squad” effort to paint vacant buildings with the goal that attention would be drawn to restoring and saving the building. NMHU student volunteers, community volunteers and the City’s bucket truck and scaffolding got the job done in a few days. MSLV coordinated a meeting when Volunteer Fire Dept. members offered to donate the building to the City of Las Vegas with the goal that it would become a museum space. Phase 1 completed!
2010-11: City of Las Vegas receives deed to building and replaces roof , which saved the building from collapse = Phase 2 completed!
2012: MainStreet de Las Vegas receives “Community Preservation Award” from State Historic Preservation Department.
2013: New Mexico’s Economic Development Department Cabinet Secretary, Jon Barela, formally presented the Capital Outlay Award of $75,000 to MainStreet de Las Vegas in partnership with City of Las Vegas for Phase 3 Renovation of the first floor of E. Romero Hose & Fire Building. The project scope included removal of rotted ceiling, adding heat, updating electric, plumbing and a public rest room.
2016/2017: Phase 4 began with application from City of Las Vegas for $100,000 to restore the second floor to be used for administrative offices for the fire department. The project is well underway and is expected to be completed in a few months.
2017: Phase 5 will include renovation of the first floor and back patio into a museum space complete with the 1937 Seagrave Firetruck, 1888 Parisian hose cart, 1883 brass bell which was recently returned and memorabilia.
