By Andrew Ravens
Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
LOWELL, Mass. — The path to a museum dedicated to the city’s firefighters has its remarkable moments — like securing a $1,000 piece of equipment from the 1800s — and more mundane ones — like scanning thousands of old photos to create a digital archive. Consider next Sunday another biggie with the grand opening of a Mogan Cultural Center exhibit detailing more than 160 years’ worth of Lowell Fire Department (LFD) history.
Jason Strunk, 32, an LFD lieutenant, spearheaded the display, which is full of photographs, old equipment and memorabilia dating back to the 1830s.
Thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment — some from Strunk’s and others’ personal collections — will be on display June 10 through Oct. 1.
“I’ve gotten to meet a lot of great people and I want everyone exposed to this (exhibit),” said Strunk, the department’s unofficial historian. “I’d like to have a fire museum someday and I hope people see the value in that by looking at this exhibit. It’s really something I believe in.”
Bringing ideas like this to fruition is also a passion of Mehmed Ali, the Mogan Center coordinator, who contacted Strunk after the firefighter published a book of historic LFD photos in December.
“Jason took it upon himself to be the preserver of Lowell firefighter history,” said Ali. “I really wish there was one of these people in every industry in this town. There should be a historian for Raytheon and Wang.
“He (Strunk) has made it his part-time cause ... to preserve the photos and documents.”
About 80 photos, various pieces of equipment — like a $1,000 “speaking trumpet” from 1832 — and log books will be on display. Ali estimated it will take about 30-45 minutes to move through the exhibit, which is set up in timeline fashion to tell the story of the LFD.
Broken up into different sections, each collection of pieces will touch upon changes to the department’s different firehouses, uniforms and equipment.
A firefighter’s social life will be prominently displayed, notably in a 1950 photo of the department’s baseball team — the team’s game against the police was always the biggest of the year — and in actual invitations to a firefighters’ ball from the 1870s.
Strunk, who maintains an archive of 3,000 to 4,000 photos, is really struck by two photographs in the exhibit:
* One image, courtesy of the Nangle family, shows firefighter Thomas Collins driving a steamer pulled by three horses in 1890. The pouf of steam in the picture comes from coal that burns in the boiler to build up pressure for the engine to pump.
* Another shot shows workers hanging from windows waiting to be rescued during the Jan. 6, 1943, fire at the Omaha Meat Packing Plant on Market Street. Dow Case of The Sun was awarded the New England photo of the year by the Associated Press for the dramatic shot.
Strunk, a history buff who majored in American Studies at UMass Lowell, joined the LFD in 1997 and immediately took an interest in collecting paraphernalia.
“I heard lots of stories and there was some great stuff around so I started collecting it,” said Strunk, who put some of his own money into the $1,500 federally funded exhibit. “It’s really something I had already had an interest in. It (fire-fighting history) always piqued my curiosity and the stuff was around -- personal scrapbooks, log books, old chiefs’ reports.”
Preserving history in the community has lots of benefits, said Ali.
“People don’t necessarily think about the fire department unless their toaster catches their roof on fire,” said Ali. “We want to illustrate that these people (firefighters) are here in the community and are heroes when the moment calls. It’s important to recognize the history behind this organization.”
The Lowell firefighters exhibit opens Sunday, June 10, at noon at the Mogan Cultural Center, 40 French St., after the city’s annual Firefighters’ Memorial Service, which will be held at 9 a.m. at the JFK Civic Center.