ATHENS, Ohio — Richland Area Fire Department Station 2 on East State Street is now a private storage space for cars belonging to a former Athens County Court of Common Pleas judge.
Alan Goldsberry and his son, Stuart Goldsberry, purchased the property at 301 East State St. in March after spending months searching for a building in which to store their cars.
“My son and I have some storage problems, and we’re gonna put a couple cars in there,” Alan Goldsberry said. “We’re not turning it into a business or anything like that,” he added.
The private Richland Area Fire Department was established in 1954. According to its website, the department covers 94 square miles of Athens County including Lodi Township and sections of Alexander, Canaan and Athens townships.
Station 2 disbanded following the sale of the property to the Goldsberrys. The department now has two operating stations: Station 1 at 9255 Hooper Road in Athens and Station 3 at 2330 Old U.S. Route 33 in Shade.
Richland Area Fire Department Chief Dale Sinclair said the original contract for Canaan Township required a station on Athens’ east side. The department acquired the contract in the 1960s, when U.S. Routes 33 and 50 ran through the city of Athens.
“Now, with the bypass and with the traffic on East State Street, by the time we get to the station to get a truck, it’s quicker to just come from the main station on Hooper [Road],” Sinclair said.
At the same time, Sinclair said, the station was responding to fewer calls.
“There was no sense in keeping it,” Sinclair said.
Proceeds from the sale of the station as well as of two fire trucks will go toward remodeling Richland Area Fire Department Station 1, Sinclair said. Parking bays for trucks will be added to one side, “so it’ll be a bigger building.”
“We’ll keep the structure part, but it will look totally different,” Sinclair said. “It’s a total remodel.”
The new development is still in the planning stages, and not all the funding for the project has been acquired, Sinclair said.
Clarification: This article has been updated since initial publication with parentheticals to correct information provided in a quote.
