The Omro Village Hall and Engine House, built in 1896, was the first centralized municipal building in

Omro, Wisconsin Omro is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,652 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located along the Fox River (Green Bay tributary), Fox River, approximately 10 miles west of Oshkos ...

, and the seat of local government for 70 years. In 1997 it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

for its intact Late

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the st ...

and its role in the community. With . The first permanent settler at what would become Omro was Edward West, in 1845. By 1848 he had been joined by dozens of other settlers - mostly farmers. Sawmills on the

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

followed shortly, and in 1849 the village of Omro was platted. In 1857 the village was chartered. More businesses started, and even more after the railroad arrived in 1861. By 1891, Omro's population was 1600. In that year the village trustees created a fire department, buying a horse-drawn fire engine and two hand-pulled hose carts. This expensive equipment needed protection, so the trustees bought a small frame building to serve as Omro's first fire engine house. At that early date, all the village offices were scattered around town. A few years later, in 1895, the village board decided to construct a better building "for the use of the fire department, etc." Local builder and architect Fred Root proposed a design in February, 1896. Bids were taken, and by July the building was usable. Thomas Thompson was the

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

contractor and Stanton, Lillicrap and Root were carpentry contractors. The hall was built for $5000. The building sits on a cut stone foundation, with walls of pink brick rising two stories to a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

, which is covered in the original standing seam metal. Above the main block a large square tower rises another two stories, incorporating a four-faced Seth Thomas clock and an open

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

. The belfry holds the original 900-pound bronze fire bell. The vertical emphasis, the asymmetrical massing, and the variety of surface textures are typical elements of Queen Anne architectural style. Inside, the garage doors led to an engine room on the first floor, where the fire department stored its equipment. To the west, the front room originally housed the village jail, but later the public library. A straight stairway leads to the second floor, which is divided into three rooms. One was the office of the village clerk, containing a walk-in vault which protected the clerk's papers. The 1896 village hall and engine house was used until 1966, when most of its functions moved to the Omro Theatre building. After that, some wanted to demolish the building to create parking spaces, but that was rejected in a referendum. Instead the building housed some civic organizations until 1981. Since then it has been leased to the Omro Area Historical Society and serves as a museum.

References

{{coord, 44, 02, 21.3, N, 88, 44, 35.5, W, type:landmark_region:US-WI, display=title Fire stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Winnebago County, Wisconsin Italianate architecture in Wisconsin Brick buildings and structures in Wisconsin Buildings and structures completed in 1896