In early October 1888, the Manistee City Council hired Frederick Hollister of Saginaw, architect of Manistee’s principal school, to design a fire hall to replace the original station built in 1872–1873 on Filer Street. Later that month, the Manistee Democrat predicted the city’s new fire hall would be “a model of convenience and usefulness.” Built in the Romanesque Revival style of brick, cut stone, and French plate glass, trimmed with galvanized iron and topped by a copper-covered dome, the building was constructed by the local firm of Brownrigg and Reynolds at a cost of $7,516. The hall opened in June 1889, when Manistee’s first fire truck, a horse-drawn steam engine, was brought from the original hall.