Firehouse, Engine Company 268/Hook & Ladder Company 137
259 Bch 116th Street | also 2-59 Beach 116th Street | Rockaway Park | built 1913
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1912
Fire Commissioner Joseph Johnson's roof-garden plan gives the new Rockaway Park firehouse a covered garden
In 1912 Fire Commissioner Joseph Johnson decided that some new firehouses would get roof gardens where firefighters could exercise. Of the 45 begun that year, 15 had them, and only three, all by Brooklyn architect Frank J. Helmle and nearly identical, had covered gardens across the front. This one shows it as an open third-floor loggia of three arches in a Colonial Revival facade with Arts & Crafts brickwork.
“The three with covered gardens, which includes this firehouse, are nearly identical and were designed by Frank J. Helmle.”
- 1913
Engine 268 moves into the new firehouse on what was then Fifth Avenue, joined by new Ladder 137
The engine company here began on November 28, 1905, as Engine 168, replacing a volunteer company when the paid department reached the Rockaways. In 1913, when the city renumbered its companies so no two shared a number, it became Engine 268 and moved to this building, then addressed 41-43 Fifth Avenue. Hook & Ladder 137, formed the same year, shares the house.
- 2001
Engine 268 and Ladder 137 are among the first to reach the crash of Flight 587
Firefighters from this house spent months on the cleanup at the World Trade Center site after September 11, 2001; 18 of the 343 firefighters killed that day lived in the Rockaways. On November 12, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 went down on the peninsula, the two companies were among the first to respond. Ladder 137 also serves as a surf rescue unit for boats in distress and swimmers when lifeguards are off duty.
“…on November 12, 2001, members of Fire Engine Company 268 and Hook & Ladder Company 137 were among the first to respond…”
- 2013
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the Rockaway Park firehouse a city landmark
After a public hearing on December 11, 2012, at which one speaker from the Historic Districts Council supported the proposal and nobody opposed it, the commission designated the firehouse on February 12, 2013. The Fire Department itself sent a letter in support. The report noted that the building still serves Rockaway Park as a working firehouse.
“The Commission received one letter in support of designation from the Fire Department of the City of New York.”
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