Fire Barn

The Falls Fire Station is located on the north side of Commonwealth Avenue in the center of the village of Attleborough Falls, a section of North Attleborough. The area is a mixture of commercial and residential uses. The building is 1½ stories high, of wood frame construction. The simple composition of the Fire Barn includes a 2-story, rectangular main block with a gable roof and a square, 4- story tower with a hip roof at the southwest corner. Originally clapboarded, the building is now covered with asphalt shingles on all but the first floor of the facade, which retains its flushboard siding. Fenestration is irregular, generally consisting of single 2/2 win- dows with a small molded architrave.

The main block of the building is articulated by simple horizontal and raking entablatures and small gable returns. The principal design features of the Falls Station are confined to its facade. The first floor is clad in vertical wood panelling, with a high projecting base and narrow Doric pilasters visuallyosupporting a wide, plain entablature: This frame is pierced by Renaissance-inspired doorways, including a small rectangular entrance with a bracketed cornice on the tower and two large, arched doorways for the fire apparatus on the main block. Centered above the apparatus doors are three round arched windows sporting interlocking lancet tracery in their upper sashes. The tower on the corner of the facade serves as a stairwell and bell tower and anchors the overall design.

The wooden panelling on its facade appears originally to have continued around its westemside. Under its low hip roof is an open belfry, elaborated by Tuscan columns, a wide entablature, and a simple balustrade.

/Architect unknown Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Falls Fire Station possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, anc association. The building is an unusually monumental design using wood-frame construction, is a locally important example of classically-inspired design, and represents an era of civic improvements associated with the incorporation of North Attleborough. It thus meets criteria A and C of the National Register. North Attleborough is an industrial town based on textile and jewelry manufacturing. Although the town did not have a separate political existence until 1887, development began earlier here (at the turn of the 18th century) than incits parent town of Attleborough.

Early 19th century industrialization drew settlement away from the Old Town Center in the south to several water sites on the Ten Mile River. The village of Attleborough Falls was one of these sites, built around the Falls Manufacturing Company cotton factory. Industrial and social development peaked in the late 19th century, evidenced by the incorporation of the town, establishment of new civic services (gas, light, and water), and architectural vigor. The town water supply, established in 1884, was extended to Attleborough Falls ca. 1891. This service was a strong factor in the efficiency of the municipal fire district created in the Falls section in 1892. The Fire Barn was built in 1893 to contain a horse-drawn wagon and ladder truck.

By 1913, the building also housed an engineer's buggy and a brush fire wagon; two men were on duty at all times, and 13 call men. also responded to alarms. Three horses were available at the station and were last used in 1930. The Falls Fire Station was connected to the Gamewell Fire Alarm System, which employed 30 miles of wire and 44 fire alarm boxes throughout the town.