The condition of the No. 4 Fire Station at 175 S. Kendall St. was the subject of considerable controversy in 1976. "If this place were downtown it would be condemned and torn down. You guys are second-class citizens," thundered Battle Creek City Commissioner Clark Valentine in a June 6, 1976, Enquirer and News article. The station, built in 1903, sat between the Conrail and Grand Trunk railroad tracks, what Valentine called the "iron curtain." Extensive water damage, poor plumbing and dilapidation made the building unsafe, and rail crossings and vacated streets hindered response times. The city closed the station in 1983 after the merger of Battle Creek and Battle Creek Township.