Fire Station No. 6 at Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park

Located just three doors down from Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, is Fire Station No. 6, and while it does not have anything to do directly with King—other than he played basketball on the court behind the station—it is part of Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park because it protected the Auburn Avenue neighborhood when the King Family lived there. The station opened in 1894 and remained in operation until 1991, closing only because the new, wider fire trucks could not fit through the doors. At the time, it was the oldest operating fire station in Atlanta, and today it is the only one remaining of those built from the 1890s through the early 1900s. The National Park Service promotes it as “one of Atlanta’s first racially integrated firehouses,” but in truth, all of the fire stations were integrated after the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed.

In 1996, Fire Station No. 6 opened as a fire station museum that focuses on the years when the King Family lived down the street, the 1920s and 30s. It is open to visitors on a self-guided basis from 9 AM to 5 PM daily (except for Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day), provided park staff is available. On the morning that I visited, a Ranger told me that it was closed, but when I walked by on my way to a tour of the Birth Home it was open. It’s only a five-minute walk from the Visitor Center, so it’s not like you have to go far out of your way to find the truth.

The main attraction at the museum is a 1927 American LaFrance Metropolitan Pumper Hose Car. Other exhibits include the watch desk and telegraph machine, plus two of the original fire poles and the fire bell still remain.