Hose Station No. 7: Davenport’s Firehouse-Turned-Nightlife Hotspot

There’s a red-lit bar in Davenport’s west end pouring drinks where fire engines used to roll out, and a BBQ truck parked in the old engine bay. Welcome to Hose Station No. 7.

Located at 1354 W. 4th Street, Hose Station No. 7 reopened this year as a live-music venue, bar, and private event space, with room for up to 150–185 guests across indoor and outdoor areas depending on the layout. The whole place leans into its firehouse identity rather than covering it back up — the branding is built around red light, engine-bay energy, and lines like “the station doesn’t quit.”

What’s happening there

On a regular week, that means:

• Redline Thursdays — house DJ sets, 7 PM to midnight, no cover
• Weekend shows — a rotating lineup that’s brought in touring funk, jam, and EDM acts (members of Dumpstaphunk and Galactic played a two-night run not long after opening) alongside local and regional DJs
• Skinny’s Fiya Truck — a fully restored 1993 fire truck turned Texas-style BBQ kitchen, parked right in the old engine bay where the hose company used to roll out. Cord Kleist of Skinny’s Barbeque (a Muscatine institution) runs it, serving brisket and pulled pork out of the same doors firefighters once used

For private events, the venue books out for receptions, birthdays, anniversaries, and corporate parties, with access to a renovated upstairs penthouse space.

Worth knowing before you go

• Address: 1354 W. 4th St., Davenport, IA 52802
• Contact: chris@hosestation7.com or 563-940-1313
• Shows and tickets: posted on the venue’s website and Facebook page — the lineup moves fast, so check close to the date rather than planning too far ahead
• Capacity: up to roughly 150–185 depending on indoor/outdoor use, which keeps most nights feeling more like a packed neighborhood bar than a big room

The building behind the bar

Some buildings get torn down when they outlive their original job. Hose Station No. 7 got a second one instead.

Built in 1905 in the Renaissance Revival style, Hose Station No. 7 went up in the wave of small neighborhood firehouses Davenport built after the East Davenport Fire of 1901 forced the city to rethink its coverage. It housed one of the department’s hose companies, led by Capt. Christian R. Thiessen and a crew of four, for years before larger, more modern stations made it obsolete. From there it cycled through a string of other businesses, the way old fire stations often do — useful, forgettable, easy to drive past.

The building’s bones, though, were never in question. It’s got the hipped roof and bracketed eaves typical of the style, a brick exterior with decorative quoining, and — the giveaway that this was once a working firehouse — a short hose tower where the department used to hang wet hoses to dry. It’s been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983, but a listing doesn’t renovate a building. That took owners Chris Rogers and Jill Wegerer Rogers, who bought the old station in 2020 and spent six years peeling back drop ceilings and drywall to find what was underneath: original subway tile, wood ceilings, the front entry itself. All of it had been hiding in plain sight for decades.

Why it’s worth the visit

The Quad Cities has plenty of newer venues built to look like they have history. Hose Station No. 7 skips the pretending — it actually has 120 years of it, and six years of careful work went into making sure you can still see that instead of a coat of drywall over it. If you’re the kind of reader who likes a good backstory with your night out, this is a firehouse that earned its second act.

Been to a show or event at Hose Station 7? Drop a comment with who you saw, or what you’d order off the Fiya Truck.