About Us
History Of The Society
On March 20th 1970, fifteen dedicated members of the fire service in Connecticut met to explore the possibilities of establishing an organization that would celebrate the state's rich history of firefighting and retain and preserve its memorabilia. Because of their vision, the Connecticut Firemen's Historical Society was born.
Founding Members
In attendance were at the inaugural meeting were Howard Reynolds of Storrs, Frank Hilbert and Joseph Herman of Mystic, Jim Morgan of Ansonia, Bob Ashley of Watertown, Bill Yandow and David Macy of Avon, Dr. Phillip Gerlach, John Tweed, and John Keselinas of Branford, Ken Pelletier of Newtown, Arthur Selleck of Fairfield, Bill Morris of the CT Historical Commission, Larry Ford of Redding, and Richard Symonds of Tolland.
Larry Ford, Howard Reynolds, Jack Tweed, and Dick Symonds became a temporary steering committee to deal with organizational and legal issues, financing, equipment needs, and a space/facility needs.
On December 1st 1970, formal incorporation papers were filed with the Secretary of the State and the Society held its organization meeting on February 15th 1971. There were eight incorporators, one from each county in the state. They were John Tweed, Larry Ford, Dave Macy, Howard Reynolds, Bob Ashley, Dick Symonds, Joe Herman, and Clarence Baldwin, a collector of fire and police memorabilia, who agreed to leave his extensive collection to the Society.
1979
The Society received its 501 (c) 3 and 509 designations from the federal government and tax exemption from the State. With organizational matters well in hand, the next effort was to establish a Museum. Initially, the Society negotiated with the State of Connecticut for a parcel of land at the State Police complex in Meriden. Although negotiations were never completed, the extensive Baldwin and Society collections were stored there on a temporary basis.
Then Bob Weiss, Town Manager of Manchester, CT, noted in conversations with Society Members that he was going to have to demolish the old 1901 fire station at the corner of Pine Street and Hartford Road in Manchester unless a use could be found for the building.
After a short period of negotiations, a lease was signed on April 12th 1979 for two fifty- year periods and the society found a permanent home for its Museum.
Becoming a Museum
When the Society took control of the Fire Station building, it was in complete disrepair after a number of years of neglect, and required extensive repairs to bring it up to a usable standard.
With the assistance of a State Economic Development Grant, extensive work by the U.S. Navy Sea Bees, and hundreds of hours of volunteer time, the Fire Museum was opened and dedicated on October 29th 1983. The building, located in the Cheney National Historic and Landmark District, was built in 1901, with a variety of additions that were added until 1912.
It was occupied as a fire station until the mid- 1960s, first by the South Manchester Fire District until 1954 and then by the Town of Manchester Fire Department until March 10th 1966. The Town of Manchester Fire Department was created after a consolidation of a number of independent fire districts.
Originally housing horse-drawn equipment, the firehouse was converted to a motorized station in late 1912 when a Seagrave chemical truck and a city service truck were delivered. The chemical truck has been fully restored and is on display today. In 1921 an Ahrens Fox pumper, the first pumper in town, was purchased and placed in service in the station. Owned by the Town of Manchester, the Fox is still operational and is on display at the Museum.