Welcome to the launch of our second blog series! In this series, we will be highlighting “mini-tours” of our exhibits focusing on specific themes. We’ll have pictures of the objects so you can see them whether you’re here in person or not, but you can also stop by the Heritage Center and see the items up close.
Our first tour is about the Boyne City Fire Department’s role through history. By focusing on five of our display items, we will highlight how the Fire Department has grown and changed over the years, as well as the role it plays in the community. We are including the numbers for the items in our exhibit guide with each item, to help you find them easier. We hope you enjoy your tour, whether in person or online!
Russel C. Leavenworth, a local photographer, took this panoramic picture of downtown Boyne City, number 11 in our guidebook. Of particular interest is the clock tower in the middle left of the image. Boyne City first installed its town clock in 1905 as an attachment to the Fire Department building. The firefighters would use the tower to dry their hoses after use, an especially crucial step to make sure they did not grow any mold or mildew!
Our fire department tour starts here to show the critical role the fire department played (and still does today!) in Boyne City. Leavenworth took this picture from the corner of Park and Water streets, showing the Fire Department right in the middle of town. Because much of the town’s construction was done with wood, many fires broke out. Firefighters would be expected to react to the alerts no matter the time of day or conditions. Fires broke out in many times and places, but none were more spectacular and devastating than the mill fires. You can make out one of the lumber mills on the horizon on the far-right side of this picture.
Our next stop on the historic Fire Department tour is object 35, an unassuming piece of hardware. While this specific item did not come from the fire department historically, bits like these were critical to keep teams of livestock such as horses pulling in the right direction. Before the introduction of the town’s first fire engine in 1917, the main way to fight fires used horse-drawn wagons or sleighs carrying the tanks and machinery needed to fight the fire.
This was not always effective. For one thing, the fire department did not always have horses available. To combat this, the City Council offered to “pay $2.00 for the first team of horses to appear to take the hose cart to the fire after an alarm and $1.00 for the second team to appear and take the hook and ladder truck.” When no team was available, firefighters had to pull the equipment by hand. Eventually, the town was able to buy a team of horses specifically for the Fire Department. You can imagine everyone’s relief when the first motorized fire engine reached town.
The fire engine in question can be found in the glass room through the northeast corner hallway. This 1917 American LaFrance fire truck reached Boyne City in January of 1918. Its arrival did not solve all the fires in the Boyne City area, but it did allow firefighters to reliably put out or contain fires before they caused too much damage. Boyne City residents watched the little red truck racing around town to put out fires for decades. It was eventually retired from service in the 1960s.
The truck itself still runs like a charm! If you’ve been to a Boyne City Fourth of July parade, you will have seen the Fire Department out driving it with the rest of their trucks. Their painstaking care and restoration work has allowed us to keep this Boyne City treasure in beautiful condition long after she eventually left service. You can also peek out one of the windows to see the modern fire trucks in the garage next door - things may have changed, but the fire engine red stays the same.
Still in the glass room, this trio of wooden objects, labeled LF-09, were one more thing necessary to the fire department. When somebody spotted a fire in town, they would have a mill whistle sound the alarm. The number of blasts signaled which part of town the fire was in. Once the horse team or fire engine was on the way, they would need to let people know they were coming and to get out of the way. While the LaFrance fire engine has its own siren, firefighters would also have these tools to warn people.
The top two tools work by spinning them by the handle. This creates a very loud rattling sound, audible from a long distance. Firefighters could use this or the clapper below to alert passers-by to get out of the road. The resulting ratcheting sound can be heard for a long distance. Ratchet noisemakers like this are commonly used at some sports events to create extra noise. The LaFrance fire engine also came with its own built-in siren, powered by a crank. If museum staff or volunteers are available, ask them to show you!
Our final stop of the tour is this image, just inside the main exhibit space as you return from the glass room. This image, from the early years of Boyne City, shows a shingle mill in the foreground. Mills were often fire-prone spaces, with heaps of sawdust and plenty of friction to give the heat to ignite it. This was such a problem that insurance agents made sure to note the cleanliness the von Platten mill in all reports. In part because of the cleanliness, the von Platten mill never burned.
In the background of this image, you can see the other major fire threat to a lumber town. Because lumbering teams often left brush and unusable pieces of trees behind at the cutting area, wildfires were frequent throughout lumber country. While there was little the fire department could do to contain these large, ominous fires, their role in protecting the town from flare-ups after the fact was critical. A single smoldering ember could reignite a fire in a town as wooden and sawdusty as Boyne City. Properly putting out fires and soaking ashes and embers would be the whole town’s responsibility, but the firefighters took the lead.
Sources and Further Reading
Catton, Bruce. “Death of a Wilderness.” in Waiting for the Morning Train: an American Boyhood. Detroit, MI: Wayne State
University Press, 1972.
Morgridge, Robert. Settlers to Sidewalks: A History of Boyne City from Its Beginning to the End of the Booming Lumbering Era.
Charlevoix, MI: Village Graphics, 1981.
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