What's Happening in Doylestown, PA…

The Mercer Museum in downtown Doylestown is hosting an exhibit over the next few months that details volunteer firefighting in Philadelphia from 1800 to 1875.

‘To Save Our Fellow Citizens’ is the title of the display that recently opened at the museum. The exhibit highlights volunteer firefighting during a critical 75-year span. During this period, as cities were rapidly expanding, fire always carried the potential to become citywide infernos.

Philadelphia never experienced the type of fires that devastated Boston and Chicago during these years, and the exhibit shows the men and equipment that protected the city from major conflagration.

Visitors to the exhibit can discover the evolution of firefighting from all-volunteer departments through to the onset of paid firemen. Other topics covered include the elaborate artwork early departments used to decorate their engines, and how individual departments were formed.

Numerous objects such as fire helmets, speaking trumpets, and badges among others will be available for viewing, as well as several audio and video stations to experience. One example is ‘Sound the Alarm’, an interactive exhibit where visitors try their hand at using a firefighter’s bell code system to communicate a fire’s location.

Several firefighting related programs are scheduled to be held this spring and summer and, with the help of a banner printing service, the public can be reminded of the dates. The exhibit went on display on April 25 and can be seen until September 7.