If your visits to Greendale never take you beyond Broad Street in the heart of the village’s quaint, welcoming and historic downtown, you might miss the old grounds building and hose tower.

Built in 1939, the attached structures served the village’s public works department and fire department, which was stationed in another red brick building just to the south. Unlike most hose towers you see, this little art deco gem isn’t actually attached to the fire house.

The United States government built the fire house (pictured below) for the village’s volunteer fire department in 1938 as part of the planned Greendale community and added the hose tower and the grounds building the following year.

When a new firehouse was built a bit farther from downtown, the police department – which shared the building, along with the municipal court – remained there for another 21 years, before it, too, got a new building. The hose tower fell into disuse and its windows were bricked up.

The attached grounds building continued to serve as a public works garage and storage and also served at one time as a youth center.

Now, the tower and grounds building have been given new life as a community gathering place thanks to the work of the Greendale Historical Society, the Village Board and a host of donors and volunteers.

"We just finished it in October," says Ted Mainella, president of the historical society. "This configuration that you see right now (see photo) was set up for a group of about 75 or 80. It can be reconfigured for an auditorium style seating for just under 100 people.

"This (1,500-square foot meeting room) area was for trucks, storage, vehicles of all kinds and description. There was some storage over here, and offices and bathrooms."

The five-year, $553,620 project – the result of private and public partnership – not only created the multipurpose community room, but also unbricked the windows in the tower, installed a kitchen area and modern bathrooms.

^{The meeting room space before. (PHOTO: Greendale Historical Society)}

The best part for me was stepping into the base of the hose tower, where you can gaze up and, uniquely in the area, see actual hoses hanging, as if to dry. This immediately make the tower’s use clear to visitors.

"I came in here for years and I'm waving my arms and telling people it’s a hose tower and they're like, ‘What are you talking about?’," says Mainella. "The Fire Department was kind enough to come out here and scramble up there and hang some hoses for us."

The tower also has its original radiator, which would’ve been kept as decoration, regardless of whether or not it remained functional. But contractors tested it, found it solid, and now it again serves its original purpose.

The community space has been in almost constant use since it opened a couple months ago, says Mainella. And, adds Village President Jim Birmingham, the project is a testament to the Greendale community.

"It really worked out nice," says Birmingham. "To me it really showed how government and groups like the historical society could work together and get stuff done. We really had a great number of groups come out of the woodwork and say, ‘We'll help you out here’."

Mainella agrees.

"I would say it was a definite partnership," he says. "The village owned the building throughout the whole process. What the historical society said is, ‘We'll raise the money and work in partnership with everybody to make it happen.’ The village retained ownership and saw that this was a good plan for the community and contributed significantly in money and support. The historical society raised an equal amount of money, plus we had public grants, private grants and made it happen."

After visiting the site, along with Village Manager Todd Michaels, the four of us drove over to the village’s current public works facility, to check out the 1938 Diamond T Model 509s that was used by the Greendale Volunteer Fire Dept. beginning in 1938.

What’s amazing about this old gem, which still has "Greendale" painted on the hood, is that it had long ago been sold and over the years had found homes in places as far flung as Utah. The most recent owner had it out in New Jersey and donated it to the village, which raised the funds to have the 27-foot truck shipped back.

The Greendale Historical Society is now working to get the engine in working order and gussy it up a bit for use in parades and other events throughout the year, says Mainella.

It’s a homecoming that coincides nicely with the re-opening of the hose tower, where hoses from this very trucks would’ve been hung up to dry after Greendale residents stepped up to fight a fire, just as their descendants have stepped up to preserve their town’s history.