Built in 1903 on Elgin’s then southeastern edge, Fire Barn 5 emerged from the city’s growth as a manufacturing center and the expansion of its fire department after the 1865 fire that spurred its creation. Designed by Smith Hoag in a Classical Revival style, the station reflected both civic pride and the horse-drawn era, with space for apparatus, horses, firefighters’ quarters, and hay storage. It later adapted to motorized equipment and other modern changes, closed temporarily during the Great Depression, reopened in 1939, and served until 1991. Now a museum, it preserves Elgin’s civic history and the changing technology of firefighting.