Just up the road a piece is the historic small town of Hanover, Pa., known for its snack foods and shoes. But few people are aware that Hanover is also the home of its own little fire museum.

The Hanover Fire Museum was started in 1980 after two of the borough’s fire stations were shut down. The two stations were merged into one building. Later, when the borough council decided to build a new fire station they included in the new station a special room to house the fire museum. The fire museum is unique in several ways, but one level of uniqueness includes its own set of alarms, burglary and fire alarms.

Included in the Hanover Fire Museum are three historic apparatuses that have been preserved and are open for display to the public. These apparatuses are:

  • 1770 circa Nushem grinder hand engine
  • 1830 circa 2 cylinder piston hand pumper ex Baltimore, MD
  • 1882 Silsby Steamer 550 GRM

Other exhibits include historic fire memorabilia and a working 1911 Gamewell Alarm Board. Hanover firefighters staff the museum, which is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The Hanover Fire Museum is located at 44 Frederick Street in Hanover, Pa. and the phone number is 717-637-3877. For more information visit the fire museum website.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 11:35 am and is filed under Hanover, History, Museums. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.