Firehouse Museum of Arkansas

The Firehouse Museum of Arkansas in Little Rock (Pulaski County) is located at 1201 Commerce Street, sitting on the edge of MacArthur Park and just south of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. It offers traditional museum space covering the history of firefighting in Little Rock and can also be booked for events and children’s birthday parties.

The structure was built in 1917 as Fire Station No. 2, a Craftsman-style building complete with two parking bays for firetrucks. The building remained in use as a fire station until a replacement was built at Ninth and Sherman streets, necessary due to the increased size of modern fire trucks. After this, the building was used by various organizations and briefly served as a storage space for the Museum of Discovery before the Little Rock Parks and Recreation Department took it over in 1997. A tornado outbreak in January 1999, which struck downtown Little Rock, damaged the building, but it was soon repaired.

However, lacking a clear use for the building, the city donated it in 2006 to Hostelling Arkansas Inc., a nonprofit organization that sought to develop a hostel in the state. (Hostels, in contrast to hotels, tend to offer more affordable accommodations, with shared sleeping and kitchen space.) Local business leaders worked for nearly ten years to raise money and renovate the building before finally opening it as the Firehouse Museum of Arkansas in 2016. It additionally served as a hostel for a time.

With advance arrangement, patrons of the museum can have tours conducted by retired Little Rock firefighters. Exhibits include a sign commemorating the largest mass casualty events for firefighters in American history, a model of the Arkansas Fallen Firefighters Memorial that stands on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol, an 1890 speaker’s trumpet that would have been used to amplify the orders of a fire commander, and some examples of modern firefighting equipment that patrons can handle and experience for themselves.

The building can also be reserved for events, and the museum offers firefighting-themed birthday parties for children.

For additional information:
Firehouse Museum of Arkansas. https://www.firehousemuseum.org/ (accessed May 5, 2026).

Schnedler, Jack. “Firefighters’ Footsteps.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, February 22, 2022, pp. 1D, 6D. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/feb/22/firefighters-footsteps/ (accessed May 5, 2026).

———. “Not Too Hot to Handle.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, February 17, 2026, pp. 1D, 6D. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2026/feb/16/arkansas-sightseeing-firehouse-museum-brings/ (accessed May 5, 2026).

Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas