For the last couple of days I’ve had business in Elk Rapids. Katherine and I went down there for our Environmental Art class, about which much more later in its very own post. On our way home we had to stop to take pictures of an east side house that has drifts of scilla in bloom.
The next day was cloudy, but I found something to brighten it up.
I have a weakness for brightly colored houses. Remember the orange one in Bellaire? I also have a weakness for this sort of building.
Rob the Firefighter knows what it is.
It’s the hose tower at Hose House No. 2 on the east side of Elk Rapids, Michigan, vintage 1892, long since turned into someone’s garage.
Once the firefighters got done using all the hoses that snaked across the working area at a fire, they bundled them up and took them back to the firehouse and hung them up to dry. No, they did not launder them first. I looked it up, and some fire departments still use towers. Others have drying racks. Others lay out the wet hoses on the heated floors in the bays. They wash them when they get really dirty. We’ll have to ask RTFF what they do in Detroit. I’m tempted to say that in Torch Lake Township the hoses never get wet to begin with, but sadly enough that is not true.
All of this reminds me – this is wildfire season in Michigan. The woods are tinder dry, and the winds kick up without warning. Now you know.
Torch Lake Views 
P.j. grath
April 15, 2011
That is all scilla? What an impression it makes en masse. I never knew about hose-drying towers on old firehouses. Would have thought it was an old school or church with a bell tower. Makes me wonder about a certain building in Northport. Must check that out. Rain in the overnight forecast, Gerry, with more tomorrow. The woods do need dampening down.
Gerry
April 15, 2011
‘Morning, PJ. You might very well have an old hose tower. They’re still in use. There was a really big one at the main fire station in San Jose, Costa Rica. (That fire station has maybe three calls per month. Rob the Firefighter goes to that many in a day in Detroit–sometimes more. Makes you think, doesn’t it?)
I am back in ER today doing a little work in the library and I saw another house with a yard full of scilla. I’m pretty sure that’s what it is – I used to have little spring bulbs at the house in Detroit but my memory . . .
Scott Thomas Photography
April 15, 2011
Whoa, that is one brightly painted house in #2. Sure wakes one up.
We have already had some wildfires around Syracuse. The rain and cold of the last week with more this weekend has helped tremendously to reduce the risks.
Gerry
April 15, 2011
Splashy. I think houses used to be painted in much brighter colors. Maybe not that bright, but bright. I think I have to give thought to a new look for the Writing Studio and Bait Shop. Hold a good thought that forest fires do not rage.
coyote
April 15, 2011
That’s an impressive crop of Scilla. It reminded me a bit of the exotic periwinkle that crops up in the Southeast, and was commonly planted in cemeteries in the region for a portion of the 19th century. It can make old grave sites easier to spot. Scilla’s an import to this continent, I think. Do you know if it was used for anything in particular?
Gerry
April 15, 2011
I never knew much about it at all. Now you have me thinking deep thoughts about where that particular patch might have come from. There’s a similar one at a nearby house–I saw that today–and most of the neighborhood is 19th century buildings.
dmarks
April 15, 2011
Cool. I knew about shot towers, but not hose houses.
Gerry
April 15, 2011
I never knew about shot towers! Now I have some links for people to follow, just in case someone else out there is curious. Good job, d.
Engines of Our Ingenuity, No. 422: Shot Tower is a really good explanation by John H. Leinhard, a professor of Mechanical Engineering and History from the University of Houston. It’s a wonderful piece, and it is written for the likes of you and me. I encourage you to read it for yourself.
I found some other pieces about specific 19th Century shot towers in the U.S. You know they made shot for my Civil War veterans. (OK, maybe not the one in Virginia. It made shot for somebody else’s Civil War veterans.)
Virginia’s Shot Tower Historical State Park
Sparks Shot Tower in South Philly
Baltimore’s Phoenix Shot Tower
Dubuque Shot Tower
thedailyclick
April 15, 2011
Such a nice little welcome mat in the first photo 😉 The house looks really cute, too, but I love the second house!
I think you would like it along the coast in Galveston… lots of brightly colored houses (on stilts) there.
Gerry
April 15, 2011
I would like Galveston, especially in the spring and early fall. So much world, so little time. The little house with the welcome mat (I liked that) is being fixed up. Dunno whether someone bought it or wants to sell it, but there’s work going on. I’d love to see the inside.
uphilldowndale
April 16, 2011
Wow what a blue; given my recent run in with the new world order of none oil based paints, I have great sympathy for that house owner, that is a lot of painting to be done.
Gerry
April 16, 2011
It is indeed, and your eyes would be completely dazzled by the time you were done. I must do a lot of work on my house this summer, and I’m thinking maybe I should make a mural . . . .
Maryanne Jorgensen
April 17, 2011
The hose house was our Girl Scout meeting location for many years! We did not help hang up hoses however.
Gerry
April 17, 2011
That is a neat little piece of Local Lore. Come to think of it, my scout troop met in a firehall. In fact, everything met in that firehall. Do you have any photos of the scouts inside the building?
Anna
April 17, 2011
Oh, I just love that bright blue house! I’d certainly come to a screeching halt to shoot a photo of that one. Well, I haven’t ever seen a hose house with a hose tower before. That is neat in bright red.
Gerry
April 17, 2011
I have a weakness for bright colors. I once bought a bright orange blazer. I, um, wore it twice. Fortunately it was deeply discounted. Very deeply. Wonder why?
Maryanne Jorgensen
April 19, 2011
No photos, Just in my heart’s treasury.
Gerry
April 19, 2011
Best place for it I’d say. Can’t lose it there.