Our Exhibits
The Aurora Regional Fire Museum is proud to house and showcase a variety of artifacts and apparatus relating to the history of Aurora and firefighting in our region. During your visit to the museum, you can explore several permanent exhibits as well as various temporary and traveling exhibits.
Permanent Gallery - Education Room - Second Floor Hall -
The Charles and Georgia Goodwin Aurora Room - Children’s Discovery Room - Temporary Exhibits
Permanent Gallery
Getting There, Getting Water, Getting Rescued: 150 Years of Tools and Technology Used to Fight Fires and Save Lives
This exhibit traces the role of tools and technology used by firefighters throughout American history. Visitors can pass leather fire buckets and imagine themselves in a bucket brigade, snap close an authentic quick-hitch fire horse collar, and ring the alarm rattle from the 1700s. Discover what role horses had to play in firefighting and learn why some fire apparatus are called combinations, triples, quints, and quads. Watch news reels and film clips of how firefighters got to the scene, put out the fire, and rescued civilians on one of five touch screen kiosks while marveling at five pieces of apparatus on display.
Education Room
TEMPORARILY CLOSED
Staying Safe: From Firehouse to your house
This exhibit shows how people can practice safety within their homes, from installing smoke alarms, to natural gas safety, to how a home can be protected with fire sprinklers. Build your household exit plan on our LEGO wall or build what what a fire engine of the future may look like. Discover the impact fire can have on different parts of the body. Explore past and present examples of fire safety and prevention with a selection of our artifacts.
The Charles and Georgia Goodwin Aurora Room
Aurora Fire Department History
Learn about the history of the Aurora Fire Department.
Second Floor Hall
The Woolworth Fire
In 1934, a devastating fire occurred at the Woolworth Dime & Quarter general store in Aurora. Three firefighters lost their lives. In this small exhibit, visitors will see how fires, firefighting, and the deaths of these men affected the Aurora community.
From Fire Station to Fire Museum
The building that houses our museum is the original Aurora Central Fire Station, built in 1894. In this exhibit, learn about the first museum in the basement of Aurora Fire Station #4 and what would have happened to Old Central had the museum not become its home.
Children’s Discovery Room
Safety at Play: A Firefighter’s Adventure is a hands-on, interactive space curated specifically for our younger visitors. Centered around playful learning, children have the opportunity to explore, be curious and learn about firefighter and fire safety. Whether they are acting as firefighters responding to calls, architects building new structures, racing fire trucks, or putting on a puppet show, there is something for every child.
This exhibit was made possible through a grant from the Dunham Foundation
Temporary Exhibits
The Charles and Georgia Goodwin Aurora Room
Smoke Inhalation: Firefighter’s Occupational Hazards
Firefighter’s protective equipment has changed drastically over the years. Explore how increasing knowledge of the health risks of firefighting influenced these changes and how firefighters have advocated for their own safety.
Curated and researched by an Aurora University student intern!
“The Most Scorching of Flames”
Examine the destruction, unification, and memory of the Great Chicago Fire that occurred on October 8, 1871. Learn how the region and Aurora responded. Explore the exhibit online here.
Never Forget: 20th Anniversary of September 11
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the nation stood still as reports came in that a plane had struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
Learn about the local response and impact of 9/11 and read the stories of firefighters who answered the call to assist in New York.
Read firefighter’s memories of 9/11 here.