History of the Museum
In September of 1966, Chief Erwin J. Bauman authorized the establishment of a fire museum in order to collect and preserve Aurora’s firefighting history. Lieutenant Charles Goodwin was appointed the curator, and the large basement of Fire Station 4 was used to house the growing collection. In October of 1968 the Aurora Fire Museum opened to the public.
Under the leadership of Captain Charles Goodwin and his wife Georgia, the Aurora Fire Museum thrived. Georgia spent thousands of hours researching and documenting the fire department’s history using the the local public library and various newspaper archives, while Charlie collected and cataloged over a thousand objects and two thousand photographs.
By the early 1980s, the museum had outgrown the basement of Station 4, and a more suitable home for the collection was sought.
In 1981, a new fire department headquarters was built on North Broadway adjacent to the old station. The old Central Fire Station faithfully served the city for eighty-six years and there was much debate about its future. After several failed attempts to sell the old building, a group of community activists, building preservationists, and retired firefighters successfully petitioned city officials to “Save Our Station” from demolition. They recommended using the old station as the new home for the fledgling Aurora Fire Museum.
The newly formed Aurora Fire Station Preservation Corporation acquired the old Central Fire Station in July of 1987. The years of indecision and neglect were hard on the building, and major repair work was urgently needed. The roof leaked, the hardwood floors were covered over, the walls had been coated with layers of paint, and there were major life-safety code issues that needed to be addressed. After three years and thousands of volunteer hours the Aurora Regional Fire Museum opened in the fall of 1990.
In 2000, the City of Aurora received a grant from the State of Illinois to renovate the old Central Fire Station, stabilize its foundation, and restore its original front facade. The projecting bay windows with leaded glass transoms (smaller windows above the bay windows) were fabricated, a replica of the original onion dome was installed, and new garage doors to the apparatus floor were hung to match the original 1894 design.
After one-hundred and ten years of use, seven years of neglect, and more than fifteen years of unrelenting hard work, the fully-restored Aurora Regional Fire Museum reopened in the fall of 2004. Today the restored old Central Fire Station serves as a unique historical landmark and is a destination for local, regional, and international visitors.
History of Central Fire Station
The Aurora Regional Fire Museum is located inside Aurora's old Central Fire Station. The station was built in 1894 (read the newspaper description of the new station) and operated by the Aurora Fire Department until 1980. Designed by a local architect, the building's unique bay windows, decorative cornice, and "onion-dome" were typical of the Victorian-time, and indicative of community pride.
While an active fire station, the original Central Fire Station underwent a lot of changes to keep up with the changing times and firefighting technology. When the horse-drawn fire engines were replaced with motorized trucks, the building's eight original horse stalls were removed, and the former hayloft was converted to a kitchen and recreation area for the firefighters. In 1920, the wooden floor of the apparatus room was replaced with concrete to better support the weight of the motorized fire engines.
The building's exterior also underwent many changes. The copper-clad onion dome and bay windows were removed in 1943 — presumably for the war-scrap drives, and to “modernize” the building. Throughout the 1950s and 60s the building’s windows and door openings were frequently modified to suite the changing needs of the firefighters and the community.
By the late 1970s, the fire department had literally out-grown the old Central Fire Station. A small building to the south had been appropriated to provide a training room and a bunkroom for the paramedics, but little could be done to increase the space of the apparatus room. The fire department’s new ladder truck purchased in 1979 was unable to fit through the old station’s arched garage door openings. And in 1981 a new Central Fire Station, which acts as headquarters for the Aurora Fire Department, was built next door.
History of Aurora Fire Department
The history of the Aurora Fire Department begins in 1856 with a string of fires. In response, Aurora’s board of trustees passed an ordinance that gave them the power to raise funds from city residents and businesses to purchase a fine engine. They also enlisted sixty-one men to volunteer their service. The name "Young America Fire Engine Company No. 1" was chosen and committees were named to nominate a slate of officers, to write a constitution and to select a uniform. Aurora’s first firefighters had to pay for their own uniforms, which were made up of a fire hat, red shirt, black pants and a red flannel coat. On February 4th, 1857, The Village of Aurora and West Aurora incorporated together to form the City of Aurora, officially establishing the fire department to serve the newly incorporated city. By the 1860s Aurora had three fire volunteer companies. In 1882, the department became a paid organization with three companies - Hose Co. No.1, Hose Co. No.2, and Hose Co. No.3.
In 1885, the city of Aurora installed a water works system that spanned 20 miles throughout the city. This brought 245 fire hydrants to the city and a reliable source of water to fight fires. Chemical wagons were fast and efficient, and because they relied on controlled chemical reactions and not an external water supply, they were able to pump out water through their hose within seconds of arriving on the scene. In 1894, the old No. 1 hose house was razed, and a new building was constructed in its place. The “Central Fire Station,” as the building was called, housed firemen for over a century, and the city’s police department until 1912. Another major upgrade for Aurora’s fireman came during the latter part of the 1900s after the appeals of then Chief Adam Schoeberlein were approved to fund a full-time salary for the city’s firemen. Full-time firefighters worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They could go home for meals three times a day as there were no kitchens in the early firehouses.
The 1910s saw the motorization of the fire department.The fire department, under the direction of Chief Herman Lohmann, began the two-platoon system on January 1st 1920. By this time, kitchens had been built in the firehouses and all meals for the men on duty were eaten in-house. On January 10, 1934, a fire broke out which destroyed the Woolworth Store on South Broadway. The fire took the lives of three of Aurora's firefighters: Captain John Petersohn, Captain Herbert Reiss and Firefighter Charles M. Hoffman.
By 1956, two-way radios had been installed in all of Aurora’s fire companies. The fire alarm office was also moved into a specially-constructed bombproof room in Central Fire Station, where it was staffed 24 hours a day as the base for the city’s two-way radio system dispatch. In 1961, the fire department assumed control of the city’s emergency ambulance service and fleet. This meant that all members of the fire department received basic first aid instruction and that during every shift at least a couple of men were assigned to the man the ambulance. During the early part of the 1970s under the direction of Chief Ralph T. Kramp, emphasis was placed on better training for Aurora’s firemen through successfully getting them certified in a firefighter trade classification program. Additionally, all of the men assigned to work the ambulances began official Emergency Medical Training during 1974 at the Mercy Center Hospital in Aurora. In August of 1978, Aurora followed suit with a lot of the surrounding cities in the area by adopting 911 as the official emergency call number.
In 2006, the city and the fire department celebrated AFD’s 150th anniversary with special commemorative patches and a gathering of every current firefighter for the city. Additionally, a list of all paid Aurora Fire Department members (ranked by seniority date) was compiled. Previous sonority lists, newspaper articles and fire department annual reports were used, though often these sources contained conflicting information. There may be some inaccuracies within this roster and we always are looking to update our historical records. If you have more information that will help us keep our records up-to-date, please contact the museum
Aurora currently has nine separate fire stations operating across the city at all times of the day.
History of Firefighting
Starting in the Colonial Era, it was everyone’s job to fight fires. A night watchman would walk the streets at night watching for emergencies and would use rattles and church bells in order to wake people if a fire was spotted. If there was a fire, a bucket brigade would be formed. This would consist of members of the community passing buckets of water from the nearest water source up a line to the fire. In 1736 Benjamin Franklin organized the Union Fire Company, the first fire organization in Philadelphia and one of the first to fight fires for the public. Many of the founding fathers worked as firefighters including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock, Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. During the heyday of the volunteer firefighters, a time captured by the lithographs of Nat Currier and Jim Ives, the majority of these companies used hand pump engines that required a lot of strength and men to operate.
The steam fire engine revolutionized the fire service. It was more effective then the hand pump engines and required fewer men to handle. Cincinnati, Ohio became the first city with a paid fire department in the country on April 1st, 1853. The Civil War included many firefighters within the army ranks, and afterwards many military men joined volunteer fire companies. Technological advancements of firefighting equipment continued during the nineteenth century including sprinkler systems, aerial ladders and eventually, motorized fire engines.
Motorized fire engines allowed fire departments to increase the range of area they could protect as well as the speed with which they could get to an emergency. The profession of the fire service continued to expand as new suburban communities grew, and in 1918 the International Association of Firefighters Union was formed in order to advocate for firefighters. After World War II, the fire service saw an influx of military men again and firefighting advancements discovered during the war began to spread through the stations. Some examples are radio communication and Self Contained Breathing Apparatuses (SCBA).
The fire service continued to spread information about fire safety to the public, and the National Fire Prevention Association created Sparky the Fire Dog in 1951 as a symbol of fire prevention for children. Fire Colleges expanded and many firefighters received additional training. Emergency medical training became a more common training requirement for firefighters. Other units have also become a part of the fire service, including hazardous material response teams as well as search and rescue. The firefighting profession of today continues to grow and advance through new technological findings as well as new regulations.