Engine 20 firefighters have moved back into their Bardstown Road firehouse after a 10-month, $1.5 million renovation that transformed the 111-year-old building into what city officials call a safer, more functional home while preserving its historic character. The station, built in 1915, sits in the heart of the Highlands neighborhood at 1735 Bardstown Road.
Mayor Craig Greenberg announced the completed renovation, posting that the project created a safer, more functional home for Engine 20 firefighters and that the century-old building is now back in service and ready for the future, according to Mayor Craig Greenberg
The project also sought to preserve the firehouse's character.
National Register of Historic Places nomination records
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From Horse Stalls to Office Space
A renovation opportunity for Engine 20 was listed on HigherGov.
Behind the walls, the renovation included a 400-amp service upgrade.
Station 20’s Historic Status
Station 20 is a National Register asset.
The firehouse has also played a lesser-known civic role beyond emergency response. Starting in 1973, Station 20 served for decades as an official air-quality monitoring site for the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, tracking urban carbon monoxide and particulate pollution along the busy Bardstown Road corridor, according to the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet.
Part of a Citywide Fire Department Overhaul
The Station 20 project is one piece of a broader capital push across the Louisville Division of Fire. In August, Mayor Greenberg highlighted a $1.1 million new pumper truck for Engine 18 as part of a multi-year effort that has put more than $7 million toward new fire apparatus, updated equipment, and the construction of Engine 23, Louisville's first new firehouse in 15 years, as detailed on LouisvilleKY.gov.
The Louisville Division of Fire operates 21 active fire stations across four operational battalions and responds to roughly 46,000 to 50,000 emergency calls a year, per the department's own strategic planning documents. It traces its roots to June 1, 1858, when volunteer brigades were replaced with paid staff and steam engines, making it the third oldest fully professional fire department in the United States — an institution that started with three firehouses, 65 firefighters, and 23 horses.
Louisville Fire has been busy on other fronts this fall as well. Hoodline has reported on a three-alarm blaze that injured a firefighter and displaced families in Old Louisville. Against that backdrop, Station 20's reopening marks a rarer kind of milestone for the department: a century-old building updated for modern service rather than a scene of active emergency response.
