Museum open house celebrates 175 years of JCFD fighting fires

Evan Jennings demonstrates how a 1970's house model taught children about fire safety at the Jefferson City Fire Museum on Wednesday. The museum celebrated 175 years of public fire service by the fire department in Jefferson City.
Evan Jennings demonstrates how a 1970's house model taught children about fire safety at the Jefferson City Fire Museum on Wednesday. The museum celebrated 175 years of public fire service by the fire department in Jefferson City.

The two antique brass poles at the Jefferson City Fire Museum were used as recently as this week, when Capt. Steve Holtmeier demonstrated the proper technique on one for a band of curious tourists.

Almost all of the many relics spread over two floors in the former Station 2 on East Miller Street are reminders of the storied 175-year history of the Jefferson City Fire Department (JCFD). That history was the magnet which pulled a steady stream of visitors to the Fire Museum Wednesday afternoon as a city ceremony honored current and retired firefighters, as well as their deceased founders.

The Jefferson City fire service has been in continuous operation since Jan. 26, 1842, when the first two fire companies were organized to serve specific geographic sectors of the thriving river port and pioneer state capital.

The museum's shiny, restored 1956 International fire truck, a gift to the museum from Bob Wilbers, can move but hasn't recently. Rare leather fire hoses haven't carried water to douse a blaze in many decades. And the canvas safety net with the bull's-eye in the middle hasn't caught a jumper for half a century.

Each of those attractions is surrounded by many more in the museum, which is being developed without public funding by a Fire Museum board headed by Holtmeier, its president and principal spokesman. He presented an informative presentation to a packed second-floor conference room Wednesday.

At one point, visitors were shoulder to shoulder in the museum, to the delight of Holtmeier and JCFD Chief Matt Schofield. City Administrator Steve Crowell and numerous other city leaders joined the visitors at the event.

Holtmeier and Schofield explained the Fire Museum is a work in progress, with a plan awaiting funding for its implementation. The museum will be open for public functions, including club meetings, church activities and school groups, the fire leaders said Wednesday.

Holtmeier and the other board members were selling three keepsakes at the gathering, including the new commemorative coin, which sells for $10. The face of the coin bears the JCFD crest with the motto, "Serve People Shield Property Save Lives," and "JCFD & L671 IAFF" (International Association of Fire Fighters, the local union representing the JCFD firefighters).

The reverse of the coin features a reproduction of the 1848 George Caleb Bingham painting of the then-8-year-old Missouri Capitol. That was Missouri's second capitol, replacing one which burned in 1837. 

The 1840 Capitol burned when the wooden dome was struck by lightning on Feb. 5, 1911 - igniting a fire which was fought by the JCFD, citizens and government officials. That effort actually saved some of that building.

Schofield, Holtmeier and retired fire Capt. Tim Young, secretary of the museum board, presented the first of the coins to Mayor Carrie Tergin and members of the City Council last Tuesday.

Young's book about the JCFD, including hundreds of restored photos dating to the roots of the department, is on sale for $50, the same price of a limited-edition flag.

The emerging Fire Museum will feature reproduction massive, 2-inch-thick sliding wood and glass doors, painted bright red.

Holtmeier said the museum will closely follow the Memphis fire museum, on which it is closely modeled. That will mean the installation of numerous child-friendly interactive exhibits and fire safety instruction elements.

Joining Holtmeier, Young and Schofield on the Fire Museum board are vice president Nathan Nickolaus, archivist Sheryl Frandsen, Nancy Thompson, Anthony Trapani, Randy Cole and Jane Beetem.