When Boulder County created the Niwot Historic District in 1993, nine buildings were declared historically significant because of their age, importance in the town’s development and relatively unaltered appearance. When researching such districts, it is rare to overlook an eligible building. But that is exactly what happened in Niwot.

Although the town’s first firehouse was built in 1910, few were aware of its existence because it had spent the last 24 years indoors. Many in town knew it in the 1970s and 1980s as Floyd Edmunds’ office in the Niwot Auction House. It later served as Jim Knoch’s office when the building became the Niwot Antique Emporium.

Edmunds had built his business next to Wise Buys Antiques where the Livingston Hotel had stood before being razed in the 1970s. After its demolition, one of the hotel’s outbuildings remained standing. Years before, the proprietors had dragged the abandoned firehouse to the back of their hotel where it became a laundry shack. It was then that the shed doors were removed and a standard door installed.

Floyd’s wife Carolyn was intrigued by the old building and wanted it preserved, so it was incorporated within the auction house as it was being built. That presented a dilemma when RLET Properties Niwot LLC purchased the building in 1997. When manager Cotton Burden offered the structure to the Niwot Historical Society, everyone wondered if the firehouse could be safely moved.

With the help of volunteers, it was successfully separated into six pieces and hauled across the street to be reassembled next to the Grange Hall. When the historical society applied for landmarking, the county Historic Preservation Advisory Board approved the application. However, they suggested obtaining a signed agreement from the Grange assuring that the firehouse could remain on their property indefinitely.

On Oct. 26, 1999, a 99-year lease was signed, and on Dec. 16 the landmark application came before the Boulder County Commissioners. It was approved unanimously. Commissioner Mendez was particularly intrigued by the chain of events leading to the application and planned to visit Niwot in the daylight to view the building for the first time.

The firehouse is now part of the Niwot Historic District and, like the other nine contributing buildings in the district, it will bear a bronze plaque describing its date of construction and original use.