MANSFIELD — For years, volunteers have called the Mansfield Fire Museum a hidden gem.
Now, they’re ready to shed that reputation.
“This museum is known as Mansfield’s best kept secret, but we don’t like that,” said Steve Allen, a volunteer there since 2019.
“We don’t want it to be a secret. We want it to be a destination. We want everybody to know about it and want to go.”
The Mansfield Fire Museum celebrated its 30th anniversary Wednesday with a ribbon cutting ceremony and public tours.
“Whenever people visit for the first time, they have the same reaction: ‘I never knew there was so much history here in Mansfield,'” said Chief Dan Crow of the Mansfield Fire Department.
The museum shows the evolution of fire service from the days of bucket brigades and horse-drawn operations to early internal combustion powered fire engines. Some displays are Mansfield-specific, others give a more broad overview of fire service in the United States.
Visitors can hear the antique alarm bell that once roused on-duty firefighters to the task at hand. They can walk through reproductions of Mansfield’s historic Main Street and a turn-of-the-century firehouse.
Other artifacts show the diversity of fire service, from a collection of firefighter helmets from around the world to a mosaic of patches from stations across the country.
And of course, there’s Smokey Bear. Volunteers say Mansfield is one of two fire museums in the United States that have a Smokey Bear display donated by the U.S. Forestry Service. (The other is in Phoenix, Arizona.)
No visit is complete without marveling at half a dozen gleaming red firetrucks dating all the way back to 1900.
“We are very proud that all the trucks here do run and operate,” volunteer Vern Bickers said. “Whether they pump water or not would be a different story, because the seals all dry up and everything like that.”
In addition to showcasing history, the Mansfield Fire Museum also has an educational area called the smoke house.
“It’s basically a room that we put people in to teach them how to escape from a dense smoke environment,” Allen said.
The non-profit museum is currently volunteer-run. Most of its funding comes from the bingo nights it hosts in the community room every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Allen said the board and volunteers are hoping to raise enough funding to expand its operation. The goal is to build a second facility with a maintenance area for the trucks as well as public space.
“Having a lack of space is what prevents us from collecting more artifacts now,” he said.
Crow said the museum is a testament to the tradition and history of fire service, but it’s also a reminder of what hasn’t changed.
“(The Mansfield Fire Department) started as a full-time organization in 1884 and we’re still basically doing the same job,” he said.
“It’s obviously a little bit more complicated, but the concept is simple. When the bell rings, we go and whatever we find, we’re gonna deal with.”
Want to visit?
The Mansfield Fire Museum is located at 1265 West Fourth Street, inside the former Five Cousins department store. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.
The museum is open Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. in mid-May through mid-October. The museum is also open for tours year-round, including personal guided tours, by appointment. The museum is also a stop on the Haunted Mansfield tour.
