DGDC chooses old fire station for ornament
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on February 22, 2009 2:00 AM
It's only February, but members of the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. had Christmas on their minds Wednesday as board members selected a design for the group's 2009 Christmas ornament.
And DGDC executive director Julie Thompson called it "fitting" that the historic structure to be featured on the item was a downtown landmark built during tough economic times.
The Goldsboro Fire Department headquarters opened April 5, 1939 along Ash Street and was built as a Work Projects Administration project. The WPA, which aimed to employ millions of Americans after the Great Depression, was the largest New Deal agency created by Franklin Roosevelt.
The station was closed in 1976 when the department relocated and served as a garage and residence before being condemned by the Goldsboro City Council in recent years.
The building was then purchased, renovated and re-opened by Parker Advertising late last year.
Now that the design has been chosen, DGDC board members will begin gathering photographs and other renderings of the old fire house to submit to the company charged with producing the ornaments.
Once completed, the keepsakes will be available at the DGDC.