Old City Hall & Fire Department

112 N. Smith St., Cuba, MO
Phone:

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The 1934 City Hall and Fire Station is still pretty true to its original configuration. The city hall being on the left and the fire barn on the right in this photo. The biggest change has been the swapping out of what was apparently a garage door for the fire truck and replacing it with a large window and walkin door topped by three transom panes. The new building even had indoor plumbing with running water and a toilet. In 1946 a new concrete fire barn was built behind the city hall and in 1954 a new jail was built back there too.

The 1934 building was a great addition to Cuba, but it wasn't all they had hoped for. The idea started out as a proposed community building to provide space for civic and recreational activities. That gradually expanded into the idea that maybe the city hall and fire truck could use part of the community hall building. In the end, the town got a city hall and fire barn and I guess the community hall idea kind of went by the wayside. But this was during the great depression years and the community hall proposal was for a much bigger building so it may have simply come down to how much money was available. To that point, several of the workers on the project were hired from the public assistance rolls and trained on the job to do the needed work while gaining new skills they could use in the future.

The building was built with the help of $1,500.00 in federal works funding to cover the labor and about $900.00 from the city. The city bought the lot from the M.E. Church (the Wallace House) on the corner for $500.00. The building was officially completed and the keys hand over to the mayor in the first week of October 1934, but it had been in limited use since at least late September when the Cuba Federal Relief Office had moved in. By late October the local Literary Society was hoping to establish a library and keep the books in the city hall. The place was filling fast!

Photo(s): 2016, 2023