Cheney Firehouse (Connecticut Fireman's Historical Society Fire Museum)

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

The Cheney Firehouse opened its doors in 1901 and serviced a town almost entirely built by the Cheney brothers and family. The immensely successful brothers built a silk manufacturing industry that brought them immense wealth. They used part of that fortune, at first, to build lodging and facilities for incoming workers, but that later turned into building schools, public works buildings, social halls, and eventually the firehouse. The brothers' business suffered mightily during the Great Depression so that by the 1930s they sold all of the buildings they owned in the town and filed for bankruptcy. The town eventually took ownership of the firehouse and then leased it to the Connecticut Fireman's Historical Society in 1978, who then opened the Fire Museum in the building one year later. The building survives as a reminder of the tremendous impact imparted on the town by the Cheney family, while the museum preserves the history of firefighting.

Images

Historic picture of the Cheney Firehouse, which is now home to the Fire Museum in Manchester, CT.

The Cheney Firehouse built in 1901 is now home to the Fire Museum in Manchester, CT.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The Cheney brothers, who gained wealth and notoriety as silk manufactures, and were integral to Manchester's urban development, had the firehouse constructed in 1901 to serve the family's silk mills and the surrounding neighborhoods. The South Manchester Fire District's Hose & Ladder Company No. 1 occupied the firehouse, relying on the most modern horse-drawn equipment at the time. The station closed in 1965. (The fire company moved to a new station house.) The Manchester Department of Public Works occupied the building until 1978 when the Connecticut Firemen's Historical Society signed a lease and converted it into the Connecticut Fireman's Historical Society Museum, which opened in 1979.

The Cheney Brothers speculated on silk by purchasing during the 1830s the vast majority of the nation's mulberry trees, the principal component of the silkworms' diet. Though the trees later suffered from blight, the brothers invested in weaving and created methods that allowed them to develop Connecticut's' first successful silk factory. Over time, they continued to invent new methods and machinery for enhancing silk production. In 1855 the Cheney Brothers served as the first silk producers to spin "waste silk" (damaged silk found in the cocoon), which substantially expanded their market and boosted profits. By the 1920s, the Cheney Brothers operations enjoyed roughly $23 million in profit (more than $340 million by 2020 economic standards).

The brothers turned that success into an opportunity ostensibly to create an entire town; by the 1920s, almost everything (outside of private homes) built or operated in town was owned, financed, or built by the Cheney family. Nearly a quarter of Manchester's residents worked for the Cheney Brothers by the turn of the twentieth century, and immigrants arrived with hopes of attaining employment -- they often did. In 1866, the brothers constructed Cheney Hall, which hosted musical events, dances, and speakers such as Susan B. Anthony and presidents Cleveland and Taft. In 1904, the brothers built a high school and "Educational Square," which provided public education to younger children. Indeed, they built the gas, water, and electric utility buildings and operated the South Manchester Water Company, South Manchester Sanitary and Sewer District, and the South Manchester Railroad. Included among the Cheney family's projects was the historic firehouse, which opened in 1901 As much as it served the public, it also protected Cheney bothers' interests and investments.

The Great Depression severely impacted silk sales -- a luxury item, leaving the Cheney Brothers in financial disarray. By 1933, the brothers sold almost everything in the town and then, in 1935, filed for bankruptcy. The town of Manchester purchased a handful of buildings, including the firehouse. The town, which last used the building to house its Public Works Department in the 1960s and '70s, leased the building to the historical society in 1978, the same year the National Register of Historic Places deemed a portion of town as the Cheney Brothers National Historic District. One year later (1979), the Historical Society opened the fire museum in the Cheney Firehouse.

The historic firehouse's presence stands as a reminder of the Cheney Brothers' immense success and influence, while the museum offers insight into the history of the firefighting operations. One can view a wide variety of equipment ranging from leather fire buckets and hand-pulled hose reels to steam pumpers, a horse-drawn hose wagon, and the fire company's first motorized tools, accessories, and vehicles. The latest addition to the museum is the fifty-five-foot Hartford Water Tower (circa 1911). The tower transitioned from horse-driven to motorized in 1914 when the company replaced the horses with a gasoline-electric tractor.

In some ways, the firehouse exists as a time capsule; horseshoe marks remain on the floor from when horses pulled the ladder and pumper equipment. Those horses, and the people who cared for them, live on through the floor marks, relics, and the house itself. Together, they take visitors back to an era when two brothers figured out how to take damaged silk waste from worms' cocoons and turn it into immense profit, which ultimately built an entire city. Simultaneously, one is reminded of how fleeting wealth can be as their fortunes quickly turned to bankruptcy because of the Great Depression.

Sources

Connecticut Fireman's Historical Society. "Home of the Fire Museum." firemuseum.org. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.thefiremuseum.org/.

Egan, Alexis and Katherine Hermes. "The Cheney Brothers National Historic District." Clio: Your Guide to History. theclio.com. October 17, 2019. https://www.theclio.com/entry/86389.

Historic Buildings of Connecticut. "Cheney Firehouse (1901)." historicbuildingsct.com. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://historicbuildingsct.com/cheney-firehouse-1901/

Manchester Historical Society. "Cheney Firehouse." manchesterhistory.org. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.manchesterhistory.org/prev_site/firestation.htm

Mobilia, Pete. "A Town's Firehouse Becomes a Museum." New York Times(New York). January 1, 1984. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/01/nyregion/a-towns-firehouse-becomes-a-museum.html.

Official website of the Town of Manchester, Connecticut. "Fire Museum." townofmanchester.org. Accessed December 15, 2020.

http://fire1.townofmanchester.org/index.cfm/fire-museum/.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

http://fire1.townofmanchester.org/index.cfm/fire-museum/ and https://www.thefiremuseum.org/HISTORY.

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm4AF5_Fire_Museum_Manchester_CT_USA