On this week's Urban Spelunking, OnMilwaukee's Bobby Tanzilo and I visit Milwaukee Fire Department's central maintenance facility and get a personal tour live on site.
The complex is made up of two buildings on 1st and Virginia in Walker's Point; the first one dates to 1900, and the other one was completed 1928-29. They're connected and offer sprawling space for work on the department's engine fleet, as well as small engine repair, carpentry, leather and textile work, repairing oxygen tanks and uniforms, and much more.
Original details abound throughout the facility, including two original — and unusually narrow — staircases. We explain just why they're so curved and tight, plus we get tons more behind-the-scenes content from MFD’s Construction & Maintenance Division Deputy Chief Schuyler Belott.
