New York City Fire Museum

278 Spring Street | Hudson Square | built 1912

Open on the map5 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1904

   The city builds a new firehouse for Engine Company 30

   Architect Edward P. Casey designs a three-story engine house after the city pays $50,000 for the Spring Street lot in 1902 and Casey files plans the following October. His finished building rests on a rusticated limestone base topped by two-toned brick laid in a diamond pattern. Engine Company 30 moves into the new quarters in 1904.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

2. 1905

   August 11

   Fireman James Clancy dies battling a soap-factory blaze

   Engine Company 30 responds to a fire at W. H. Daggitt's Sons soap factory. A floor gives way during the blaze and pins fireman James Clancy beneath a heavy safe, and he dies of his injuries. The death is one of the company's earliest line-of-duty losses from the Spring Street house.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

3. 1959

   April 6

   The city announces Engine Company 30's closure to cut costs

   Citing a plan to save the department $1.645 million, Fire Commissioner Edward F. Cavanagh Jr. announces that Engine Company 30 will be eliminated and its Spring Street firehouse closed. The building continues housing a fire department medical clinic for years afterward, before preservationists convert it into a museum in 1987.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

4. 1987

   July 6

   The New York City Fire Museum opens in the old Engine Company 30 firehouse

   The city's first fire museum opened in December 1870 at Fire Department headquarters. In 1981 the Home Insurance Company broke up its H. V. Smith Firefighting Museum and gave the collection to the city. On July 6, 1987, the New York City Fire Museum opened to the public here, in the renovated former firehouse of Engine Company No. 30.

   Source: Wikipedia

5. 2024

   May

   The Fire Museum closes over concerns about the building's structure

   The museum keeps a permanent memorial to the 343 members of the FDNY who died at the World Trade Center site, and after the attacks its attendance jumped to 46,000 in 2002. In May 2024 it announced a temporary closure because of concerns about the structural integrity of the old firehouse.

   Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

• New York City Fire MuseumWikipedia
• The 1904 Engine Co. 30 (Fire Museum) No. 278 Spring St.Daytonian in Manhattan

Nearby

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• Abraham B. Vanderpoel House38 Dominick Street | 7 entries
• 34 Dominick Street House34 Dominick Street | 5 entries

All 79 buildings with stories in Hudson Square