AUSTIN, Texas — It’s known as the old Austin Fire Department training tower – a familiar landmark to anyone who’s driven past the slender six-story building on West Cesar Chavez Street between the First Street and Congress Avenue bridges downtown.
A deliberately-set campfire near the tower in April 2021 caused some exterior damage. Now, the City of Austin has begun a restoration project that will bring the tower back to its original glory. Windows will be replaced and exterior bricks and the carillon bells restored.
Officially known as Buford Tower, it was built in 1930 and was one of the city’s tallest structures in its day. When firefighters trained there, big crowds would often come to watch as firemen used flares and smoke bombs to simulate blazes inside the tower.
It served a practical purpose by giving firefighters an opportunity to practice climbing long ladders while hauling heavy hoses to heights of six stories. But as downtown grew, it wasn’t the best spot to hold training exercises, and a new tower was built in southeast Austin in the 1970s.
After it was no longer needed, city hall planned to demolish it until a group of residents, led by the wife of the man whose company built it, saved it in 1978. Many consider the old tower a thing of beauty, designed and built in the style of an Italian bell tower.
The tower holds a special place in the hearts of Austin’s firefighters. It’s where solemn ceremonies are held each year to honor the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.
And long after it was built, it was named for one of their own: Fire Captain James L. Buford, who drowned when he tried to rescue a teenager caught in a Shoal Creek flood in 1972.
Work on restoring the tower is expected to wrap up later this summer, according to city officials.
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