Marjorie Lee Smith got involved in her Park Hill neighborhood when crime began to rise and she feared the area was in decline. She became a neighborhood activist and a familiar face at City Hall. She served six years on her neighborhood board and attended countless meetings on behalf of Park Hill.

Here is Marjorie, in a photo taken by The Gazette’s Christian Murdock.

Her greatest success was convincing the Colorado Springs Fire Department to relocate Fire Station 8 at 3737 Airport Road, within the Park Hill neighborhood. The city celebrated the grand opening at 2:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17.

A road that loops around the new station is named Marjorie Lee Drive in honor of Smith.

Here is a photo of the dilapidated firehouse, built in 1966, it replaces about a half-mile west on Airport.

Now, a few photos of the new firehouse. In the last, Marjorie Lee Drive is in the foreground:

Here is a map to the new firehouse:

The new firehouse was designed to evoke the historic qualities of Stations 1 and 2, pictured below:

Station 1 at 29 S. Weber St. and Station 2 at 314 E. San Miguel St.

For the grand opening ceremony, scheduled at 2:15 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 17, the city created a history of Fire Station 8 and issued press releases with background on the project. Read them here:

fire-station-8-history.pdf

station8invite.pdf

station-8-opening.pdf

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