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This Saturday, May 31, you can get a peek inside Milwaukee Fire Department’s last active bungalow firehouse as the crew of Station 13, 2901 N. 30th St., kicks off summer with an open house.
The event, which is free and open to all, and runs from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., is part of the Milwaukee Fire Department’s ongoing celebration of its 150th anniversary.
The family friendly event will have fire apparatus (those are fire trucks to you) displays, the Mobile Survive Alive House, face painting, blood pressure checks, a photo booth, food and refreshments AND a tour of the 1927 bungalow firehouse.
The firehouse, one of five bungalow firehouses that city architect Charles Malig designed, was built as home to Engine 22 (which is now housed at 88th and Lisbon), and was almost identical to the one on Oklahoma Avenue, that now houses the Milwaukee Fire Education Center and Museum.
Now enlarged, thanks to a 1994 additions that created a new kitchen, rec room, officers’ quarters and laundry room, this firehouse is the only bungalow firehouse that’s still active. It is home to Engine 13 and Medical Unit 5.
You can read more about all the bungalow firehouses in this Urban Spelunking article.
This is a great opportunity to check out this little Milwaukee landmark, meet local firefighters and neighbors and see how a Milwaukee firehouse operates.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
