Westminster fire history museum to hold open house
Later on Saturday, July 21, 2012, the Westminster Volunteer
Fire Department will host a crab feed.
By Kevin Dayhoff,
On Sunday, July 15, 2012, the Westminster Volunteer Fire
Department will swing open the doors to the past with an open house to the
department’s critically acclaimed history of local firefighting museum, from 1
to 4 p.m.
Veteran firefighters and historians will be hand to answer
questions and conduct tours of the museum which is attached to the southern-end
of the firehouse on John Street in downtown Westminster.
Also available is pit beef and pit ham sandwiches for the event.
The museum at the Westminster firehouse offers the public a
glimpse into the history of the fire department that spans two centuries. It
was dedicated on October 24, 1998, when the fire department moved from the fire
station located at 66 East Main Street, which had served the community for 102
years, to its current location on John Street.
The first mention of a fire department in the city of
Westminster was in the year 1808 when the Maryland General Assembly “passed an
act authorizing the raising of money by lottery to pay for a fire engine…”
The Act of the Maryland General Assembly named several
“commissioners” who were charged with conducting the lottery. Even in those
early days, they were also some of Westminster’s prominent community leaders.
Several were among the first elected officials of the town
after the town’s first election in April 1819: Jacob Sherman, Daniel Zacharias,
John Fisher (the first Burgess of Westminster) and Jacob Yingling.
It took another fifteen years before the fire company was
formed. The name of the first fire company in Westminster, formed in 1823, was,
the “Union Fire Company of the Town of Westminster.” The first firehouse was on
Church Street.
Another little known tidbit of history is when the
“firehouse” was moved from its beginning location on Church Street, to near the
intersection of Court Street and Main Street, around 1834, it was used as a
“drunk tank.”
When a town drunk was picked up, the local authorities would
move the firefighting apparatus out of the “firehouse” and lock up the offender
inside. Remember, although Westminster had first incorporated in 1818; at this
time, it was still in Frederick County and there was no “county jail” in
Westminster.
According to the Westminster Fire Department
website,
today the
department’s
museum looks “like an old station dating back to the late 1800's. The
station is octagonal in design and in the front above the window contains the
original stained glass window from our previous station…
“Inside the museum, you will find our two antique motorized
pieces, 2 hose carts, and assorted photos, documents, and other historical
memorabilia. The room is designed to look like a station of the late
1800's/early 1900's…”
In addition to this Sunday’s open house, the Westminster
Volunteer Fire Department will host a crab feed on Saturday, July 21 at the
department’s John’s Street quarters attached to the firehouse at 28 John Street
in Westminster.
The menu features steamed crabs, pit ham and beef, macaroni
salad, coleslaw, baked beans, corn on the cob, Maryland crab soup, veggies, fruit
dip, cheese, and desserts.
The tickets are priced at $40.00 per person and proceeds go
to supporting the Westminster Volunteer Fire Department’s ambulance and
firefighting services, and the museum.
For more information on the museum open house or the crab
feed to support the fire department, call 410-848-1800 or go to the department
website at westminstervfd.org.
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Museum, firefighters, Westminster, history,
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