Reamer Building/ Central Fire Station

"The front of the new Reamer building in East Seneca street was unveiled this morning and presented an appearance of which Ithacans may well be proud. The building has been enclosed during the winter so that artisans might complete the work on the outside despite the cold weather.
The ? presents a handsome appearance, being of colonial style with brick offset with cement pillars and heavy cement cornices. In the lower and second stories are large triple windows taking up the full space between the pillars.
Mr. Reamer will begin moving into his new building this week and he expects to have his machinery installed so that work in the new place of business may be commenced by the latter part of next week.The laundry will occupy the first two floors. Clarence E. Head has already installed his shirt manufacturing business on the third floor."

"New Business Edifice: The Reamer Building Nearing Completion," Ithaca Daily Journal, March 4, 1907, 3, accessed October 18, 2024, https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=idj19070304-01.1.3

208 E Seneca St
Urband Son & Co. Merchant Tailors (Isaac M and Joseph B. Urband)

Norton Printing Co, Ithaca, NY

Multi-Family Construction: ; 
Roof of Main Structure: Non-combustible; 
Additional Sections: Section 1, right back (E), 1 story, composition roof / Horizontal bricked steam boiler / Brick chimney; 
Porches: ; 
Outbuildings: ; 
Other: Open elevator / Skylight / Frame partition front corner "Tailor" / "New Method Laundry 1st & 2nd", "C.E. Head Shirt Fact'y 3rd" (factory) / also #208 E Seneca St / Sanborn 1910 numbers incorrectly as #725 E Seneca to this structure / 1910 City Directory "Modern Method Laundry"; 

Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Sanborn Maps Collection

208-210 E State St
Modern Method Laundry

210 E State St 
Clarence E Head Shirt Manufacturer

Norton Printing Co, Ithaca, NY

"Many months after the question of a central fire station was first brought to the front, and following frequent and more or less spirited discussion of various proposed sited, the Common Council last night voted to purchase the Modern Method Laundry property on East Seneca street, owned by John Reamer, and to convert it into a central headquarters...."

"To Buy Reamer Site For A New Fire Station," Ithaca Journal, April 28, 1925, 5. 

"Weeks of anxious waiting for their new headquarters to be opened ended last night for members of the Nos. 1, 3, and 4 fire companies when they took possession of the new Central Fire Station and abandoned the quarters they have had for many years in City Hall."

"Firemen Occupying Their New Headquarters; Work on City Hall," Ithaca Journal, June 24 1926, 5. 

208-210 E Seneca Street
Central Fire Station

H. A. Manning Co, Schenectady, NY

208-210 E Seneca St
Central Fire Station

208 E Seneca St
Walter W (Mary E) Buckingham, driver, Ithaca Fire Department-home

H. A. Manning Co, Schenectady, NY

208-210 E Seneca St
Central Fire Station

H. A. Manning Co, Schenectady, NY

"Seneca Street was vastly changed by urban renewal, a massive federal effort in the 1950s and 1960s that resulted in the demolition of old buildings to make way for new construction and parking. Located on the northeast corner, site of the current parking ramp, was the Old City Hall, a distinctive 1842 Greek Revival brick building. In 1965, Ithaca’s Urban Renewal Agency razed the City Hall and an elaborate public drinking fountain in front of it donated by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (1896), sparking local action for historic preservation." 

Historic Ithaca, DeWitt Park Historic District and Downtown Ithaca: An Architectural Walking Tour, 22. http://www.historicithaca.org/