VICKSBURG ART ASSOCIATION member Fran Eckenrod looks over the architectural designs presented by city architect David Clement, standing, at the Constitution Firehouse on Main Street Tuesday night.(The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)

[05/15/02]One by one, bricks have begun to fall off the 132-year-old Constitution Firehouse and leaks in the roof have started taking a toll on one of Vicksburg’s oldest firehouses.

For almost 32 years, the Vicksburg Art Association has called the Firehouse Gallery at 1204 Main St. home, but with private donations being the only means of financial support, maintaining the building has become a great challenge for the organization, firehouse chairman Daniel W. Boone said.

“We’ve done what we could do, but we’ve not done enough for this building,” Boone said.

Now, with a little help from the city, plans are being made to restore the Mississippi State Landmark later this year.

“I think it’s time that we try to save buildings like this,” Mayor Laurence Leyens said Tuesday at a VAA meeting.

David Clement, city architect, presented plans to about 10 members of the association to restore the outside of the structure. City plans would include repairing the leaking roof over the main structure and replacing bricks that have been falling from the two-story building.

Clement would also work with the VAA to create plans to restore the inside of the building to meet with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History standards. Because of its historical designation, all work has to be approved by the state.

“This is a wonderful building, and I believe in remarkable state,” Clement said.

The Old Constitution Firehouse is believed to be the most intact Victorian fire station in the state. It was built in 1870 as the second house for the city’s first volunteer fire company and later housed the first paid company.

The building retains the central stall, barracks room, cupola and bell that was used to call the volunteers, but Clement said the bell tower is somewhat of a mystery.

When he went up to the tower to investigate water leaks, Clement said he noted that the bell tower atop the firehouse is almost an exact replica of the tower on the Old Court House Museum, built in 1858.

A date stamped on the bell also indicates that it was forged in 1849, 21 years before the firehouse was built.

“It looks like it may have come from another building and was placed here,” Clement said.

The firehouse belongs to the City of Vicksburg, but has been used by the VAA since 1971 under an agreement with the city. During that time, all maintenance to the building has been funded by the association.

City officials have estimated outside restoration will cost $150,000. Funding for the inside work will come from the VAA.

Money was not included in this year’s city budget for the work but will be allocated in next year’s, Leyens said.