The Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum

Museum organized 1974 — opened 1981

Course: The museum lives in Engine House No. 3 at 226 West Washington Boulevard — the 1893 fire station designed by Wing & Mahurin (from Brentwood Tolan's plans) and more than doubled in 1907, when it became the largest station in the city. The last pumper company moved out on 20 July 1972 after seventy-eight years of service, and the building was nearly razed for a parking lot in 1974. Instead the Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum, Inc. — established in 1974 — leased the building from the city in 1975 and began collecting; the museum opened on a limited basis in 1981. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Inside, the department's history runs from the volunteer era (1839–1882) to the paid force: hand pumpers — including an 1848 Button hand pumper that reached Fort Wayne by canal — steamers, among them an 1893 Amoskeag bought from the Henry Ford Museum, and the horse-era house itself, stalls, poles, and all, interpreted as it stood.

Sources:

1. National Register nomination, Engine House No. 3 (1979) — construction 1893, the 1907 enlargement, the last company out 20 July 1972, the near-demolition of 1974, the twenty-year lease to the Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum, Inc. in 1975.
2. Clio, Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum — the museum established in 1974, opened on a limited basis in 1981, artifacts dating to 1839.
3. Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum / IAFF Local 124 — the 1893 Amoskeag steamer from the Henry Ford Museum; the 1848 Button hand pumper (visitor record).