In the middle of the last century, Little Rock Fire Station 9 on East Sixth Street was the hub of the community.
"People voted here. The police hung out here -- because they didn't have two-way radios, so this is where they got the calls," says retired firefighter Bob Franklin. Neighbors gathered to hear Fire Capt. Lance Leech play the banjo in the evenings, he adds; kids played on the lawn and roller-skated down the driveway. "This was the center of the neighborhood."
Construction on the fire station started in March 1930 and took 64 days. Engine Co. No. 9 moved in June 1930 and occupied it until July 1963, when the city moved it to the airport to supplement the crash station crew.
Industry and warehousing were expanding in the area, and so was a community of the people employed therein.