Skip to main content

FASNY Museum of Firefighting - Hudson, New York

Image
By

 

One of the things I enjoy doing is going to museums to learn about everything that New York State has to offer, especially when it comes to specific and unique subject matter. It just so happens that just outside the City of Hudson is one of America's premier firefighting museums, so I decided to make a visit. Dedicated in 1926, the FASNY Museum of Firefighting was formed as a result of an agreement signed by both the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (or FASNY, for short) and the Exempt Firemen's Association of the City of New York in 1923. This resolution stated that if FASNY would construct a building suitable for a museum, then four antique fire engines would be donated to the museum by the Exempt Firemen’s Association of the City of New York. The original size of the museum was 2,600 square feet, but almost a century later, the FASNY Museum of Firefighting has grown to 50,000 square feet in size and features one of the largest collections of firefighting apparatus, equipment, gear and memorabilia in the entire world.

When you visit the museum, you will notice the plethora of fire trucks as soon as you walk in the door. Before you can check out the centuries of firefighting history and interactive activities for families of all sizes and ages, there is a short orientation video to watch that gives you a history of this family museum. A lot of the various firefighting equipment, banners, patches and vehicles around the museum have been kindly donated from fire departments throughout the Empire State as well.

The non-descript museum entrance.


The main gallery of the museum features lots of different fire trucks, plus plenty of banners and even a few interactive exhibits.

All about fire hydrants.




Banners and an old fire truck.


Patches from different fire departments.


The main gallery is pretty spacious. There's a few dozen fire trucks in this one room.
Another room at the museum is decided more to historical artifacts and the history of firefighting.

Ancient Romans were among the first firefighters.

Some old firefighting equipment.

Older firefighting equipment.

The history of firefighting in New York State is as old as New York itself.


Newsham Engine from 1731, which is New York State's oldest authenticated fire engine.




Modern firefighting jacket.

An old pumper cart.









Leather buckets.

Antique leather bucket truck.


Sources and Links:
FASNY Museum of Firefighting - FASNY Museum of Firefighting
FASNY Museum of Firefighting - Our History
Firemen's Association of the State of New York - History
FireDex - FASNY Museum of Firefighting 
Flickr/Doug Kerr - FASNY Museum of Firefighting (entire photo collection)

How to Get There:



Update Log
February 12, 2018 - Original article posted to Unlocking New York.
August 24, 2021 - Article transferred from Unlocking New York to Gribblenation.
Labels:
Location: 125 Harry Howard Ave, Hudson, NY 12534, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trimmer Springs Road (Fresno County)

By
Trimmer Springs Road is an approximately forty-mile rural highway located in Fresno County.  The corridor begins near in California State Route 180 in Centerville and extends to Blackrock Road at the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada range near the Pacific Gas & Electric Company town of Balch Camp. The roadway is named after the former Trimmer Springs Resort and was originally constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.  Trimmer Springs Road was heavily modified and elongated after construction of Pine Flat Dam broke ground in 1947.   Part 1; the history of Trimmer Springs Road Much of the original alignment of Trimmer Springs Road was constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.   The  Kings River Lumber Company  had been established in 1888 in the form of a 30,000-acre purchase of forest lands in Converse Basin.  This purchase lied immediately west of Grant Grove and came to be known as "Millwood."  The co...
Post a Comment
Read more

When was Ventura Avenue east of downtown Fresno renamed to Kings Canyon Road? (California State Route 180)

By
California State Route 180 was one of the original Sign State Routes designated in August 1934.  The highway east of Fresno originally utilized what was Ventura Avenue and Dunlap Road to reach what was then General Grant National Park.  By late year 1939 the highway was extended through the Kings River Canyon to Cedar Grove.   In 1940 General Grant National Park would be expanded and rebranded as Kings Canyon National Park.  The Kings Canyon Road designation first appeared in publications circa 1941 when the California State Route 180 bypass of Dunlap was completed.  Kings Canyon Road ultimately would replace the designation of Dunlap Road from Dunlap to Centerville and Ventura Avenue west to 1st Street in Fresno.   The Kings Canyon Road would remain largely intact until March 2023 when the Fresno Council designated Cesar Chavez Boulevard.  Cesar Chavez Boulevard was designated over a ten-mile corridor over what was Kings Canyon Road, remaini...
Post a Comment
Read more

Interstate 99 at 30

By
When it comes to the entirety of the Interstate Highway System, Interstate 99, when fully completed, is nothing more than 161 miles of a roughly 48,000-mile system (0.3% of total length).  Yet, to more than just a handful of people, the number '99' rubs them the wrong way. Interstate 99 follows the path of two US Highway Routes - US 220 from the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bedford north to Interstate 80 and then to US 15/Interstate 180 in Williamsport.  It then follows US 15 from Williamsport north to Interstate 86 in Corning, New York. Interstate 99 runs with US 220 through much of Central Pennsylvania. (Doug Kerr) US 220 from Cumberland, Maryland to Interstate 80 and US 15 north of Williamsport were designated part of the Appalachian Highway System in 1965.  Construction to upgrade both corridors progressed steadily but slowly.  In 1991, the two corridors were included as a National High Priority Corridor.  The route from Cumberland to Corning consisted of High P...
Post a Comment
Read more