Nantucket Historical Association, Whaling Museum, and Historic Sites [MA]

Description

The Association operates several museums and historic sites, including the Whaling Museum, Hadwen House, Oldest House, Old Mill, Old Gaol, Quaker Meeting House, and the Hose-cart House. The Museum displays exhibits tracing the history of the New England whaling industry. The Hadwen House is a Greek Revival mansion built in 1845 by whaling merchant and silver retailer William Hadwen. Also called the Jethro Coffin House, the Oldest House is the oldest residence on Nantucket. Built as a wedding gift in 1686 for Jethro Coffin and Mary Gardner, it is the sole surviving structure from the island's original 17th-century English settlement. The Old Mill, built in 1746 by Nathan Wilbur, a Nantucket sailor who had spent time in Holland, is the oldest functioning mill in the country. The Old Gaol was opened in 1806; the wooden structure represents colonial architecture with exceptional reinforcements. The Quaker (Friends) Meeting House was erected in 1838 and originally served as a Friends School for the Wilburite Sect. The Fire Hose-cart House is the last remaining 19th-century firehouse on the island, dating from 1886.

The association offers tours, lectures, classes, research library access, and recreational and educational events; the Museum offers exhibits; the Hadwen House offers tours; the Oldest House offers tours; the Old Mill offers tours and demonstrations; the Old Gaol is open to the public; the Quaker Meeting House is open to the public and offers lectures; the Hose-cart House is open to the public.

Louisville Fire History and Learning Center

Description

The center exists to educate the Louisville community in fire and home safety while preserving the city's rich history. The center's collection includes a rare 1892 Hale Water Tower, one of 12 chemically-raised water towers built in the United States by Hale; a working vintage communications system featuring the "Joker"; a photo collection illustrating the history of the nation's third oldest professional fire department; and memorabilia, including uniforms, helmets, badges, and tools of the profession.

The center offers exhibits.

Central Insurance Fire Museum [OH]

Description

Central Insurance started out in 1876 as a fire insurance company. The threat of a disastrous fire was always very real and the equipment used to fight fire primitive. F. W. "Bill" Purmort, Jr., President of Central from 1964 to 1994, first took an interest in collecting fire equipment in 1969. He gradually built Central's museum into one of the finest privately owned collections in the U.S. The museum exhibits a collection of leather fire buckets dating back to the 1700s; over 600 antique fire toys consisting of cast-iron, rubber, glass, tin, and wood construction; a large display of fire extinguishers and glass fire "grenades" dating from the 1850s; a rare and valuable collection of "firemarks" dating back to 1720; a wardrobe of antique fireman helmets and uniforms; Van Wert's first hand-drawn pumper used in 1871; an Ahrens horse-drawn steam pumper which was purchased new in 1907 by the city of Van Wert and restored by Central; and a 1926 Ahrens-Fox pumper, the Rolls Royce of firetrucks.

The museum offers exhibits and tours.

Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum [IN]

Description

In this reconstructed 1893 firehouse, the public is shown how the Fort Wayne Fire Department developed from a volunteer department (1839–1882) to an organization of paid professionals (1882–present). This history is traced from the use of hand pumpers and neighborhood volunteers through the development of the steamers and paid firefighters right up to the present-day firefighters. Almost all of the artifacts in the museum were once used by the Fort Wayne Fire Department. Most were graciously donated to the Museum by present and former firefighters or their families in the hopes that future generations can fully understand just how far the fire service has come in the last century and a half.

The museums offers exhibits and tours.

Denver Firefighters Museum [CO]

Description

The Museum is located in historic Denver Fire Station No. 1. The building was constructed in 1909 for Engine Company No. 1 by Glen W. Huntington, noted Denver architect, as one of the largest firehouses ever built in Denver. The building served as a working fire station until 1974. Today the Museum offers hands-on activities and exhibits which provide information about fire safety and prevention as well as the history of the Denver Fire Department and historic Fire Station No. 1. Visitors can try on firefighting equipment, slide down a pole, and ride on a fire truck designed just for kids.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, and educational and recreational programs and events.

Eureka Fire Museum [NJ]

Description

The Museum displays historic firefighting equipment and memoriabilia. The most prominent items in the museum's collection are two fire engines, a 1921 American LaFrance and an 1899 Wilkes hand-drawn hose cart. Among the thousands of badges, patches, sprinkler heads, and firefighting gear are many unusual items, including a burlap "salvage bag" and a wooden Japanese fire extinguisher.

The museum offers exhibits.

San Francisco Fire Department Historical Society and Museum [CA]

Description

The primary mission of the Society is to preserve the heritage and to record the history of the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) for the benefit of the citizens of San Francisco. This mission will include the conservation and preservation of the collection, display of documents, graphic items, fire memorabilia, apparatus, appliances, and other items at the Society's Museum. The award-winning Society muster team, by preserving the physical techniques of firefighting used in the past, makes the Museum a museum of living history.

The museum offers exhibits and occasional recreational and educational events.

New Bern Firemen's Museum [NC]

Description

Established in 1955, the New Bern Firemen's Museum seeks to preserve the history of firefighting in New Bern. The exhibits are original pieces of equipment from the city's past. New Bern was the first city in North Carolina to charter a fire company, and one of the first in the nation; and the city's firefighters hold many world records.

The museum offers exhibits.