Northside - City of Riverside

corner of Eighth (now University) and Main Streets in the Mile Square. Fire Station
No. 1 was staffed with a Fire Chief, two assistants, a clerk, and approximately fifty
volunteers with a bucket wagon, a horse cart, a hose reel, and a hook and ladder, all
operated by man power. It was at this same time that the young City began
development of its water main system, soon installing hydrants in the downtown
area. The first horse-drawn apparatus was acquired in 1890 and the station moved to
the Findley & Knight Livery stable on Main Street between Seventh (now Mission
Inn Avenue) and Eight Streets. The following year, Fire Station No. 2 was opened in
a small shed at Sixth and Pachappa Streets but was soon relocated to Arlington, a
distant yet incorporated community. In 1909, the Riverside Fire Department became
motorized with a Seagrave combination hose wagon and chemical engine, and by
1938, Riverside boasted 33 firefighters and five engine companies housed in four
stations (Fire Station No. 3 in Magnolia Center and Fire Station No. 4 on the
Eastside; City of Riverside 2005:n.p.).
Like other types of development in the City and around the country, the onset of
WWII stymied the development of local infrastructure and City services, however,
the early 1940s saw improvements in the fire department’s services with the creation
of the block program, the establishment of emergency medical assistance, and the
invention by Riverside Firefighter Ed Strickland of the preconnected 1 ½" hose,
which was quickly adopted across the nation (City of Riverside 2005:n.p.).
Figure 18. Map showing current locations of the City’s fire stations (City of Riverside 2005)
The development of Fire Station No. 6 in the post-WWII period illuminates the
growing need for fire services in this portion of the City when other areas were, at
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