Grandview Municipal Building

The original Grandview Heights Municipal Building was built in 1924 as a firehouse and city hall. The building opened August 8, 1924, and is the oldest fire station still operating in central Ohio. The Municipal Building also housed offices of what was then the village of Grandview Heights. Today, the Grandview Heights City Council meets in what is believed to be the original fire department’s day room, and the current fire chief’s office is located in the area once occupied by Grandview Height’s mayor. A second bay was added in 1936 for an additional truck.  

The Grandview Heights Fire Department (GHFD) was started by Mayor John Ryder in August 1924, after Columbus the previous year effectively cut the service it had previously provided to the tri-village area. The same year, the newly-organized GHFD became Franklin County's second (after Columbus) fire department to purchase a motorized fire fighting apparatus, a Seagrave Suburbanite. Four days after the Municipal Building opened, on August 12, 1924, the newly-acquired Seagrave Engine No.1 pumped its first water at a fire scene, a grass fire near Goodale Avenue and Northwest Boulevard. The Seagrave Engine No.1 was retired from active fire service in 1953. The department’s second fire truck was purchased in 1936. 

Simultaneous organization of the fire department required hiring the first fire chief and the first full time professional firefighter. The village had been formerly served by a fully volunteer brigade. Salaries were set at $115 a month, with the top of the salary schedule set to be $140 a month. The chief and his family were provided free living quarters over the newly completed fire house-city hall complex on Grandview Avenue. Firemen later lived in the basement when on duty.

Prior to construction of the Municipal Building, the site contained a Native American burial mound. The mound, attributed to the Adena, was approximately 10 feet in height and 65 feet in diameter at the base. Five skeletons were exhumed from the upper levels of the mound during its excavation.  

1963 photograph shows a crane and workers constructing a large wrap-around brick addition to the back of the Municipal Building which provided additional offices and space for the police department.

Grandview’s first fire chief, Merle Klingensmith, Sr. (right) with Lt. R. McAllister (left).

Photograph from 1975 Columbus Citizen Journal, shows Grandy, the Grandview Heights Fire Department Dalmatian mascot. 

1924 Seagrave Suburbanite fire truck in front of Municipal Building. 

1936 Seagrave fire truck, shown in back of Municipal Building (with additional bay added in 1936), replaced the 1924 Seagrave Suburbanite as Engine No. 1. 

Aerial view of Municipal Building showing 1963 wrap-around addition.