Whether you are a firefighter curious about the origins of the firefighters "Maltese Cross" symbol... a student wondering why fire engines are red... an author looking for photographs to illustrate a book on firefighters... a television production company developing a show about the Great Chicago Fire... or a relative of an Aurora firefighter searching for genealogical information... the Aurora Regional Fire Museum is a well-regarded source for a vast array of firefighting history. |
“Whatever the American's
are proud of -- whatever they consider to be particularly good, useful, brilliant, or characteristic of themselves or their climate, they designate, half in jest, though scarcely half in earnest, as an ‘institution.’ Thus the memory of George Washington... is an institution; the Falls of Niagara are an institution; the Plymouth Rock, on which the Pilgrim Fathers first set foot, is an institution...; ‘Sweet potatoes’ are an institution, and Pumpkin (or Punkin) pie is an institution; ...squash is an institution; Bunker Hill is an institution; and the firemen of New York are a great institution.”
-- Life and Liberty in America
Charles Mackay, 1850
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