Springfield Alderman Gail Simpson says she may try to go around Mayor Mike Houston in order to secure funds to restore a building that housed the city’s first African-American firehouse.
The former Fire Station Number 5 on East Adams was manned primarily by a segregated crew of black firefighters.
The current owners want to use community development block grant funds to restore the building’s original façade, but so far Houston has opposed the move because he says there isn’t a detailed plan for how the project would be completed.
