Description of Historic Place

The Old Fire Hall and Jail is a Municipal Heritage Property on one commercial lot at 525 Main Street in the Town of Bruno. The property features a brick fire hall at the front of the lot and a seperate one-room, wood-frame jailhouse situated at the rear.

Heritage Value

The Old Fire Hall and Jail is valued as one of the oldest brick fire halls in Saskatchewan. Built in 1917-1918, the fire hall conveyed a sense of safety and security to the burgeoning town soon after it was incorporated. Built with a boom town façade that features decorative window and door openings and entablature, the fire hall is constructed with brick that was manufactured locally at the Bruno brick plant. The Bruno brick plant was one of three major brick manufacturing facilities that operated in Saskatchewan in the early-twentieth century. The fire hall’s location on Bruno's Main Street is also evidence of the fire hall’s prominence within the community.

The property is also valued for its use as a jail, which was built during the same period as the fire hall. Today, two original jail cells remain intact as part of a small interpretive museum that focuses on the town’s police history. Like the firehall, the jail also speaks to safety and security in a growing new community.

Source:

Town of Bruno Bylaw 04/2003.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of The Old Fire Hall and Jail resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements associated with the fire hall’s status as one of the oldest fire halls in Saskatchewan, such as its brick construction, boomtown façade, bell tower, flag poll, bay door and orientation on its original lot;
-those elements of the jail associated with its use as a prison, such as the wood-frame construction, two original steel jail cells and windows.