CALAIS – The Calais Fire Association is ready to kick off a major fund-raising effort to save the Old Fire House on Church Street. The group hopes to turn the old building into a fire museum.

Built in 1874, the building most recently has been home to the Happy Gang senior citizens group. Over the years, the group has used the building to hold meetings and social events.

“This is a grand old building, rich in history,” Calais Fire Department Lt. Richard Barnard said. “Remember, if we all work together we will have saved an important part of our history and perhaps even done our part to help attract tourists to our area.”

The red brick building on Church Street next to the City Building does have a rich history, but most recently it has fallen into a sorry state of repair.

There are broken windows on the second floor, and pigeons have made that floor their home. There are bricks missing in the rear tower, the roof appears to have been patched a few times, and the bricks all over need cleaning and pointing.

Last year, Barnard met with the City Council and explained the fire association’s hopes of turning it into a museum.

The councilors agreed that the building would be an ideal location because it is within walking distance of the downtown. The department already has 1916 and 1926 Mack firetrucks that are newly refurbished and could be housed there.

The Church Street facility has had some national attention. In 1973, Eastman Kodak filmed a television commercial there because the building looked like a so-called “authentic” firehouse.

Three years ago, Fire Capt. Dale Purton and firefighter William Townsend put together a history of the city’s Fire Department.

They researched old newspaper articles and other documents.

In their 10-page history, they describe efforts by the city to build a new engine house to replace the one on Lowell Street. In 1873, city officials decided to build on Church Street.

“In the summer of 1874, the fire department moved into the new house, which was very modern for its time. The building was 21/2 stories, built of brick and had two apparatus doors,” they wrote.

Initially it was named Central Station, but later that was changed to St. Croix No. 1 because of the two pieces of city fire equipment housed there: the steamer St. Croix and the St. Croix ladder vehicle, which Purton described as a large piece of equipment that carried the department’s ladders.

An organizational meeting for the fund raising is planned for 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, at the City Building.