Ground broken on final resting place of firehouse

Ground was broken last month at Pioneer Village where the Ozaukee County Historical Society plans to relocate the historic Saukville firehouse.

That brings the reality of relocating the  historic firehouse another step closer.

According to the OCHS website, they hope to move the firehouse the four miles from downtown Saukville to Pioneer Village by August and are in the midst of a fundraising campaign to make that happen.

Pioneer Village at Ozaukee County’s Hawthorne Hills Park in the Town of Saukville includes more than 24 other restored buildings owned and maintained by the Historical Society.

The organization acquired the firehouse from the Saukville Historical Society last year as that organization dissolved and donated its assets and collections to the Ozaukee County group, which then launched an Ignite the Fire campaign to raise $250,000 to pay for the first phase of the project.

Officers of OCHS and the Saukville group were both on hand for the groundbreaking.

But the estimated cost of moving the firehouse and setting it on a new foundation  has increased to more than $270,000, Ozaukee County Historical Society President Mary Ann Velnetske said in April.

“This is getting to be a bigger project than we imagined, but it’s going to be so beautiful after it’s finished,” she said.

Plans call for relocating the firehouse at the east end of Pioneer Village near the 1912 train station and 1940s-era caboose, as well as a replica 1940s hose tower.

Officials hope to restore the firehouse to its original 1912 appearance while ensuring compliance with modern building codes.

Moving the structure will entail moving lines owned by We Energies, Spectrum and AT&T at the expense of the Historical Society, at an estimated cost of $92,000, Velnetske said.

To move the firehouse, the lower level of the firehouse will be dissembled, which has been changed from its original design over the years, then reconstructed at Pioneer Village to the firehouse’s original specifications using the original bricks.

The back half of the firehouse, which was added to the structure and served as the Saukville Historical Society’s headquarters, was sold by the Ozaukee County group to a Saukville resident for $120,000. It will remain on the downtown site.

Donations to the Ozaukee County Historical Society’s Ignite the Fire campaign can be made through the Historical Society website at https://ochs.co.ozaukee.wi.us/endowments or by checks sent to the organization at P.O. Box 206, Cedarburg, WI 53012.