Established | 1976 |
---|---|
Location | 51 Bedford St., New Bedford, MA, United States |
Type | Firefighting museum |
Website | http://www.newbedford-ma.gov/fire/museum.html |
Fire Station No. 4 | |
Coordinates | 41°37′41″N70°55′38″W / 41.62806°N 70.92722°W |
Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
Built | 1867 |
Architectural style | Italianate |
Part of | County Street Historic District (ID76000229) |
NRHP reference No. | 75000250 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | July 24, 1975 |
Designated CP | August 11, 1976 |
The New Bedford Fire Museum is a local history museum at 51 Bedford Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. It is located in the 1867 Fire Station No. 4, the city's oldest surviving fire station. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. [1] The museum is open between July 4 and Labor Day. It houses a collection of firefighting equipment and memorabilia related to the history of firefighting in the city.
The New Bedford Fire Museum is located south of downtown New Bedford, at the northwest corner of South 6th and Bedford Streets. The former fire station it is located in is a two-story brick building, constructed in 1867 and enlarged in the 1880s. Its most prominent feature is the hose tower, which has bricked-over rounded-arch openings and a hip roof with a flared eave and corbelled brick cornice. The original portion of the station has two equipment bays, with paneled doors and granite frame. The enlargement, to the left of the main block, also has two bays on either side of a pedestrian door. The building was originally designed for horse-drawn fire equipment, its lower level including stable space, and the upper level used in part as a hay loft. [2]
The station's first foreman was A.M. Howland Jr., who later served as mayor of New Bedford, and it was staffed by a volunteer force. The station was named in honor of Cornelius Howland, one of the city's leading merchants. The addition originally housed the fire department repair shop. In 1913, the volunteer force was replaced by paid staff, and the hay lofts were converted into living space. [2]
The station was one of the oldest continuously operating fire stations in the state when it was closed in 1979. [3] In 1975 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Fire Station No. 4. The museum was opened the following year. [4]
The museum has a collection of old firefighting equipment and some old fire engines. Among them is the original 1867 Cornelius Howland hand pumper, which saw active service in this station until 1884. It also includes log books from the station's operations between 1867 and 1913. [2] Visitors can try on old uniforms and slide down the pole. [3] Old city fire records dating to 1890 are available for research and review. [5] Retired and active city firefighters act as docents.
Rain damage to the station's roof [4] required the closing and renovation of the museum's second story. It reopened in July 2008. [6]
A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond to emergency calls for long periods of time, and are summoned to the fire station when their services are needed. They are also expected to attend other non-emergency duties as well.
A fireman's pole is a pole that firefighters slide down to quickly reach the ground floor of a fire station. This allows them to respond to an emergency call faster, as they arrive at the fire engine faster than by using a standard staircase.
The Cherrydale Volunteer Fire House is home to the Cherrydale Volunteer Fire Department in the Cherrydale neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia. Constructed in 1919, it has been a focal point for community attention ever since. The building served as Arlington County Fire Station #3 until a new station opened nearby in July 2011.
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Fire Barn 5 or Fire Station 5 is a historic building in Elgin, Illinois. It was the fifth official fire barn in Elgin, originally housing horses and a fire fighting carriage. Over the years, the carriage was replaced by automobiles. The building is an example of Classical Revival architecture and operated as a fire station until 1991, the year it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It now functions as the Elgin Fire Barn No. 5 Museum, a museum of firefighting history.
The Hose Station No. 1 is a historic building located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 1999. In 2019 it was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Motor Row and Industrial Historic District.
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Since its opening 22 years ago, Mr. Roy and a volunteer committee of 12 have been the custodians of the museum housed in a former fire station at Bedford and Sixth streets.