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Our Mission:
The Aurora Regional Fire Museum... purpose is to preserve and exhibit the artifacts and history of Aurora and surrounding area fire departments....
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Exhibits
current exhibits • past exhibits
Collecting, preserving, and exhibiting “stuff and stories”
is a key part of our mission. We hope you
can appreciate the stuff and relate to their stories. |
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Current Exhibits
Museums Un-Crated • Getting There, Water, and Rescued
Getting There • Getting Water • Getting Rescued
150 years of the tools and technology used to
fight fires and save lives
The new exhibit, "Getting There, Getting Water, Getting Rescued" traces the evolution of the tools and technology used by firefighters. Visitors can pass a leather fire bucket from the early 1800s. Snap closed an authentic "quick-hitch" fire horse collar. Discover what was found under the floor boards of the old central fire station. Marvel at the strange looking Vajen-Bader smoke mask. Explore the differences in fire hose nozzles. Learn why some pieces of fire apparatus are called combinations, triples, quads, or quints. See and hear how modern fire engines clear the streets with sirens, air horns, and devices that change traffic lights green. Watch vintage film clips of firefighters and fire engines on one of five video touch-screens. All this in addition to five pieces of fire apparatus on display in a fully restored 1894 fire station. |
Museums Un-Crated
An inside look at how and why
museums collect, use, and preserve things
In the Spring of 2010, nineteen rare firefighting artifacts were transferred from the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History in to the permanent collection of the Aurora Regional Fire Museum. Why did the Smithsonian decide to offer these objects to another museum, and why did the fire museum accept them? Who decides what museums should collect and what should be exhibited? How do museums use the things in their collections, and where do they keep the things not on display? This exhibit opens up the mythical wooden storage crates of a museum, and gives visitors an inside look at how and why museums collect, use, and preserve things.
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A double-decker style hand pumper, and a four-wheeled hose reel -- two highly detailed scale models based on real pieces of fire apparatus used in the Philadelphia area circa 1830s-1850s. |
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One of the oldest pieces acquired in the Smithsonian transfer is this Philadelphia Contributionship Fire Mark, (circa 1814). The fire mark is used in the exploration of how museums are established. |
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Visitors are invited to compare and contrast two firefighting speaking trumpets (megaphones), in the section that discusses how and why museums use the objects in their collections. |
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Like the real engine operated by Philadelphia's Lincoln Fire Co. in the 1860s, this model is adorned with patriotic portraits of the president, and elaborate wood trim and carvings. |
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Ironically, our desire to preserve objects sometimes causes more harm that good. Two damaged fire buckets and a broken fire helmet illustrate the importance of proper storage and preservation means and methods. |
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Past exhibits viewable online:
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