Fire Museum is a cultural hot spot in New Bedford - South Coast Today |
| Fire Museum is a cultural hot spot in New Bedford - South Coast Today Posted: 06 Aug 2010 09:07 PM PDT PETER PEREIRA/The Standard-Times Damian Szulc Jr., left, and brother Hunter Szulc, 6, imagine what it's like to drive a fire truck in the cab of one of the antique engines on display.PETER PEREIRA By doncuddy@s-t.com August 07, 2010 12:00 AM "If you can send engines with men and a hose, they will be thankfully welcomed" the telegram read. It was signed by Mayor Gaston of Boston and addressed to Abraham Howland, the first mayor of New Bedford who also happened to be the city's chief engineer, or fire chief, as we call them nowadays. It was Nov. 10, 1872, and Boston was burning. A contemporary account of what happened next can be found in a logbook that today resides in the collection held at the fascinating Fire Museum in the city's South End, probably one of the least-known gems on the New Bedford cultural landscape. Warren Ladd, supervisor of the New Bedford and Taunton railroad, was persuaded to run a special train with the fire engine Cornelius Howland aboard, along with the full company of firefighters and several cars "packed with passengers eager to gaze upon the imminent pile of ruins," as the log noted drily. That fire ravaged about 80 acres of Boston before it was extinguished. The logbook is displayed beneath a July 4, 1877, photograph of the men of Engine Company No. 4, complete with their sleeping Dalmatian curled at their feet. These men staffed the same Bedford Street building that now houses the museum. The station was manned entirely by volunteers from its beginnings in 1867 until it became a full-time operation in 1913. Today the wheel has turned full circle and the station, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is once again manned only by volunteers. Keeping the Fire Museum open is unquestionably a labor of love for Larry Roy, its leading light, who retired 10 years ago after 28 years as a firefighter. Roy welcomes visitors Monday through Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. All of his efforts on behalf of the museum are unpaid, and his enthusiasm for his profession and its history in the city of New Bedford has not diminished with time. A fully restored steam-driven pumper dating from 1884 immediately greets the visitor who steps inside the cool confines of the old station. "It was named after Cornelius Howland who took a great interest in firefighting," Roy said. "He was a shipmaster and he was responsible for them going from hand pumpers to steam, so they named an engine after him." There are various other fire trucks in the collection, all of them in running condition, thanks to the painstaking restoration work done by Joseph Peters, who owns a transmission shop on Shawmut Avenue. "He did all of the work for free. He's quite a man, a mechanical genius. He can take anything apart and put it back together," Roy said. The fire trucks are rolled out for special occasions and participate in a number of area parades such as the Cape Verdean Independence Day Parade. "We've been going to the Fourth of July parade in Bristol for 30 years," Roy said. Some of the engines are still horse-drawn, but today's handlers would be hard-pressed to match the skill of the old timers if a newspaper story from The Standard of August 1873 is accurate. That story, also on display, gives an account of a drill conducted at the station. When the alarm was sounded, the horses were led in from the building's rear, hitched to the fire engine and driven to a hydrant at the corner of Sixth and County streets, where hoses were run out and connected. Water coming out of the nozzle was timed at just one minute 52 seconds after the alarm was heard. Roy proudly shows off the 1954 Maxim fire engine that he started on in this same building in 1972. "Afterwards it sat in a shed at the Quitticas waterworks for years," he said. "We take it around the fort in the fall. It runs good." Roy said Mayor John Markey deserves a lot of the credit for the museum's creation. "In 1974 I invited him down to see the old pictures I'd hung up. He said with the bicentennial coming up we should have a museum, and he knew where there were a lot of artifacts." The Veteran Firefighters Association, who occupied a building where the lighthouse at the octopus intersection now stands, owned a lot of the equipment which has found its way into the museum via the Glass Museum and the Whaling Museum, according to Roy. The museum now houses an impressive collection, professionally displayed with signage in three languages: English, Portuguese and Spanish. Upstairs the bunk room has been lovingly restored and features two firemen's poles — one for the lieutenant and one for the men. "You couldn't slide down the lieutenant's pole. They were funny about that," Roy said. In another upstairs area a play section for kids features a mini sliding pole and dress-up clothes. Another display sure to appeal to children is the extensive model layout depicting a Ringling Brothers circus complete with posters advertising side shows such as the Wild Man of Borneo and the Rubber Skinned Boy. Roy would like to see more people discover the museum and the rich slice of New Bedford history that it represents. His own history has now inextricably linked with it. "I've been in this building for 34 years and involved with the museum since before it opened. I've spent more than half my life here." Larry Roy would be happy to give you a tour of the museum at 51 Bedford St. from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday through Sept. 5. Admission is $3 for the general public, $2 for seniors, $1 for children. For more information, call (508) 992-2162. Reader Reaction We reserve the right to remove any content at any time from this Community, including without limitation if it violates the Community Rules. We ask that you report content that you in good faith believe violates the above rules by clicking the Flag link next to the offending comment. New comments are only accepted for two weeks from the date of publication. Not sure how to add your comment? Here's how Five Filters featured article: "Peace Envoy" Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from cultural - Bing News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment