Program

NYS Cemetery, NYS Historic

Subject

Building

Location

1111 Main St, Coventry, RI 02816, USA

Lat/Long

41.690943, -71.564411

Grant Recipient

Western Rhode Civic Historical Society

In 1880, the Coventry Town Council voted to build a Town Clerk’s Office in the Village of Washington, Rhode Island, allocating $2,000 and requiring a fireproof vault for their records. The building was completed by February 1881, when the town records were moved there.

In 1907, the Town Council approved an additional $500 to construct a “suitable lockup” beneath the Clerk’s Office. This basement jail marked a shift in the building’s function, expanding its role from purely administrative to one that included law enforcement.

The building continued serving the town until 1942, when it was repurposed as a fire station for the Washington Lighting District. A little over a decade later, in 1954, a new fire station opened across the street and the building became an ambulance garage. Around 1967, it was refurbished as a fire-dispatch and civil defense headquarters and retitled as the Mruk Fire Alarm Building. It also served as a designated nuclear fallout shelter, illustrating the concerns of the Cold War era.

Finally, in 2021, the property was conveyed to the Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society. The society committed to preserving the building for its historical and architectural significance, ensuring that its long and varied past would not be forgotten. Restoration efforts began soon after, with work underway on the building’s exterior by 2022. Today, the structure stands not only as a preserved landmark but also as a living museum. It houses antique fire apparatuses and serves as a gathering place, hosting the historical society’s monthly membership meetings.