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Larry Zotti, who is the unofficial curator of the Granite City Fire Museum, points to his “pride and joy,” a 1922 firetruck that was originally owned by the Granite City Fire Department. Zotti was able to find the truck in 1987, and he and his father spent four and a half years restoring it.
Larry Zotti, who is the unofficial curator of the Granite City Fire Museum, stands next to a 1922 firetruck that was originally owned by the Granite City Fire Department, while holding a photo celebrating the truck’s 100th anniversary.
The Granite City Fire Museum, right, which was the city’s first city hall, police station and firehouse, is being renovated thanks to grant funding, as is the building next door.
Vintage fire trucks from the Granite City Fire Department are on display at the Granite City Fire Museum.
This is a 1922 firetruck that was originally owned by the Granite City Fire Department. It is now on display at the Granite City Fire Museum, which was the city’s first city hall, police station and firehouse.
Museum curator Larry Zotti, right, and Granite City Mayor Mike Parkinson discuss some of the items on display at the Granite City Fire Museum.
The Granite City Fire Museum, which was the city’s first city hall, police station and firehouse, houses a variety of fire-related memorabilia.
The Granite City Fire Museum, which was the city’s first city hall, police station and firehouse, houses a variety of fire-related memorabilia.
This white firetruck, built in 1949, was used by the Madison Fire Department. It is on display at the Granite City Fire Museum.
The Granite City Fire Museum, which was the city’s first city hall, police station and firehouse, houses a variety of fire-related memorabilia.
The Granite City Fire Museum, which was the city’s first city hall, police station and firehouse, houses a variety of fire-related memorabilia.
The Granite City Fire Museum, which was the city’s first city hall, police station and firehouse, houses a variety of fire-related memorabilia.
The Granite City Fire Museum, which was the city’s first city hall, police station and firehouse, houses a variety of fire-related memorabilia.
The Granite City Fire Museum, which was the city’s first city hall, police station and firehouse, houses a variety of fire-related memorabilia.
This is the building next to the Granite City Fire Museum on 19th Street. Both buildings are renovated, with funding coming from a variety of grants.
A $4,000 grant from Landmarks Illinois to repair the roof of the Granite City Fire Museum is just part of a much larger plan to renovate the museum and the building next door to it.
Landmarks Illinois has awarded $24,500 in matching funds to eight preservation projects across the state. A total of $16,000 was awarded to four projects through the Preservation Heritage Fund Grant Program. That includes the grant for the Granite City Fire Museum, which was built in 1904 and used as the city’s first city hall, police station and firehouse.
“I’ve lived here for 51 years, including 24 years with the police department, and I knew the museum existed, but I had never been in the building,” Granite City Mayor Mike Parkinson said. “Larry Zotti (unofficial curator of the museum) is a longtime friend of mine and he has been involved with it, so I got in touch with Larry, and I told him I wanted to see the building.
“The city owns the building, but I knew that Larry had maintained it for many years. I met Larry at the museum and Rick Daily (building and zoning administrator for Granite City) went with me. We toured the building and we saw that it was a gem that our residents should be able to enjoy.”
While touring the building, which is located at 1411 19th St., Parkinson and Daily realized that it needed a lot of work.
“It’s such a historic building, not only for Madison County but also for the region as a whole,” said Parkinson, who was an arson investigator for the police department. “It required support to get the maintenance of it where it needed to be. Much to Larry’s credit, he put in a lot of money out of his own pocket to keep this place going through the years.
“I reached out to Paula Hubbard (grant writer for Granite City) and she started looking for grants. The first one she came up with was from Landmarks Illinois.”
The building has a lot of sentimental value for Zotti, who has been a collector of firehouse memorabilia since he was a little boy.
“I drove by the building one day back in 1991 after I had just bought an old firetruck and I needed a place to put it,” Zotti said.
“I talked to a gentleman who was an alderman and he said he would see what he could do, and that’s how I ended up with the building. The city put some money into it to get it up to snuff and I’ve been in there since 1992.”
The museum is a collection of old firetrucks and fire-related memorabilia, photos and gear.
“Over the last 30 years, I’ve watched the building deteriorate in certain areas, plus some prior damage from the building next door with a mishap they had,” Zotti said. “There is a lot that needs to be done, but it was Granite City’s first city hall, police station and firehouse and it has a lot of historical value.
“It was ‘horse house’ originally because the building was built prior to having motorized firetrucks. The police department was in the back side of it. Where the jail used to be, prisoners would climb up to the top bunk and they would scratch their names on the wall, and you can still see them there today.”
Once Parkinson realized there was a need for funding to repair the building, things moved quickly. Hubbard said that Zotti suggested applying for a grant from Landmarks Illinois.
Hubbard noted that some bids are out for the repair of the roof at the Fire Museum. Brick façade works needs to be done on the exterior of the building and the older boiler system and HVAC system need to be replaced as well.
“Together Larry and I wrote the grant and at the same time, Rick Daily used a drone to take pictures of the exterior of the building,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard added that the city will be using other sources, including additional grants from Landmarks Illinois, to provide more funding for renovation of the two buildings.
“We will have to continue applying for funds from Landmark Illinois if we want them,” Hubbard said. “We are eligible for specific monies for this particular project. It’s preservation work that they are interested in and there are some standards that we have to abide by.”
“We’re using whatever funds we can to make sure that the building is safe,” Parkinson added. “Water has caused a lot of damage to it, so we’re looking at replacing the whole roof on both buildings. We’re utilizing grant money to do these projects. This isn’t taking money from roads that need to be fixed or curbs that need to be repaired because we’re doing millions of dollars of that right now.”
The city offices moved out of the building in 1929, when the current city hall was built, and the entire building became a firehouse. The firehouse was in service until 1960, when a new station was built.
In addition to the city hall, police station and firehouse, the building once housed the city council chamber and the city jail.
Zotti’s pride and joy is a 1922 fire engine that Granite City bought brand new.
“I used to play on it when I was a little boy,” said Zotti, who is 71. “I was able to get it back in 1987 and my father and I restored it for four and a half years just before he passed away, and it’s sitting in the same spot right now in that engine house that it was when it was delivered in 1922.”
The building next door to the Fire Museum, meanwhile, is the former home of an Elks Lodge and a Moose Lodge and has been vacant in recent years.
“We took on the idea of this being a legitimate museum for people to enjoy and we saw the opportunity to buy the building next door to expand it,” Parkinson said. “We can have kids’ parties there and have an event space for kids.
“In the near future, we’ll be looking for grant money for that and grant money to expand the firehouse into a multi-use facility. We’d like to add more memorabilia and perhaps include some police-related items as well. We’d like to rent it out for fire-themed birthday parties and hold civic events there.”
In doing research, Hubbard found two possible construction dates – 1904 and 1908 – for the building next to the Fire Museum. In either case, both buildings date from the same era, making them a good candidate for a joint renovation project.
“No other city administration until right now had taken an interest in working closely with Larry to restore the museum building,” Hubbard said. “Mayor Parkinson took the initiative to meet with Larry and he got excited about the potential of the building. We only had a week to complete the grant, but we were able to do it.”
“No mayor took this project on because they didn’t have the money or the wherewithal to bring in somebody like Paula who can go out and find money that the city taxpayers don’t have to account for,” Parkinson added. “To not only see the value of what Larry has done through the years but also to bring someone like Paula into the project and into the city is what the citizens of Granite City need.”
Parkinson added that anyone in the community who is interested in working with the renovation of the two buildings should call City Hall at 618-452-6214.
Scott Marion is a feature reporter for the Intelligencer. A longtime sportswriter, he has worked for the Intelligencer since December 2013. He is a graduate of Brentwood High School and the University of Missouri School of Journalism.