After fires at the Dicke Tool Company in 1903 and 1911, the Dicke family took an interest in improving the fire department in Downers Grove. In July 1927, a special bond issue provided $20,000 to build the village's first fire station on Dicke family land at 1110 Warren Avenue, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held there on October 24, 1927. Sam Hoffert, the village's oldest fireman and Downers Grove's first fire chief, was given the honor of turning the first shovel of dirt because of his long and faithful service. The building, known as Station #1, housed the fire department's first motorized pumper, a 359 GPM White purchased in 1920, which had previously been kept in Hawkins' garage at Main and Grove where cars had to be moved to get it out. In 1928, the department added its first ladder truck, a Seagrave 750 GPM, and it was also housed there. Station #1 remained Downers Grove's only fire station until Station #2 was built at Main and Summit in 1953. On July 29, 1961, Station #1 was renamed the Grant E. Dicke Station in recognition of Grant Dicke's fifty years of service to the fire department; he had joined at age 18 in 1911 and served until 1967. In 1975, Station #1 closed and a new Grant E. Dicke Station was built at 2500 Wisconsin Avenue. Grant E. Dicke died in 1977, and that same year the land around the original fire station was purchased for Oak Tree Towers, while later owners preserved the original structure as part of Downers Grove's past.