Firefighters continue work on fire museum

Jefferson City firefighters are continuing their slow, but steady, work on turning an abandoned fire station into a museum reflecting the history of the Fire Department.

In 2012, the City Council endorsed a firefighter museum concept to be housed in the old Fire Station No. 2 on East Miller Street, which originally opened in 1935. Since then, firefighters and volunteers have been spending time refurbishing the old station, which was used until 1970, to its original state and gathering as many donations as possible for future exhibits.

Capt. Steve Holtmeier, chairman of the museum committee, told members of the Public Safety Committee on Tuesday that they are working on two large projects to get the museum ready, but funding has been an issue.

Holtmeier said the electrical system within the old fire station needs to be redone and they also are trying to get bay doors that would match the original 1935 doors, which were a mixture of wood and glass bifold doors. He said the cost for the doors would come to about $16,000 to $17,000, which would include the cost of installation. Though he has yet to get a quote for the needed electrical work, Holtmeier said it is likely to cost about $5,000.

The museum has not received any city funds and everything is being operated by donations, volunteer labor and in-kind services. Other funding came from the proceeds of Capt. Tim Young's book on the history of the local Fire Department, "Capital Smoke: The life and times of the Jefferson City Missouri Fire Department," which came out last year. Holtmeier said right now, the fire museum has about $13,000 in its account.

"All the work being done is being done by us," Holtmeier said. "It's a slow process cause I'm doing all of this by volunteers and by donations."

There is no estimate on when the museum will be open, as it is entirely dependent on volunteers and donations.

Holtmeier said getting the old station ready is simply the first phase of the project. The second phase, he said, would be to turn the building next door, the old Animal Shelter, into an interactive portion of the museum.

Anyone interested in donating to the project can send donations to the city, specifying that donations are meant for the fire museum project.