Burning for you: Fire museum seeks donors, community involvement to purchase building

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Vintage Fire Museum hosting Muster and Swap Meet

The New Albany Vintage Fire Museum and Safety Education Center will hold its second annual Muster and Swap Meet from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The event will feature fire departments and car clubs that will display equipment and vehicles for public viewing outside the museum, which is located at 411 E. Spring St. in downtown New Albany.
There will also be opportunities for people to set up tables to sell memorabilia and parts. Those who bring fire equipment or a car, or set up a booth at the event will receive a dash plaque and free entry into the museum.
Admission for others into the museum will be $5 for adults and $2 for children. There will be a food booth at the Muster and Swap Meet, and the event will moved inside the museum if the weather is inclement.
For more information, call 502-599-2522, 812-498-4777, or email firetruckjr@yahoo.com. People also can learn more about the museum by visiting the website www.vintagefiremuseum.org.

Related Photos

Board and committee members of the Vintage Fire Museum and Safety Education Center, 411 E. Spring St., stand with a late nineteenth century parade hose carriage in the New Albany museum on Tuesday afternoon. They are working to raise funds to purchase the building they are currently renting for the museum. Staff photo by Christopher Fryer
The Vintage Fire Museum and Safety Education Center sits on its location along the 400 block of Spring Street in New Albany on Tuesday afternoon. Board and committee members are working to raise funds to purchase the building that is currently being rented for the museum. Staff photo by Christopher Fryer

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September 19, 2012

Burning for you: Fire museum seeks donors, community involvement to purchase building

By DANIEL SUDDEATH daniel.suddeath@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Wed Sep 19, 2012, 01:01 AM EDT

NEW ALBANY — It’s one of the world’s top vintage fire equipment collections, and its protectors feel they are caught in a “log jam” as they attempt to find a way to regularly showcase the $600,000 set in downtown New Albany.

In 2009, a group amassed and began a fundraising campaign to purchase the Fred Conway collection and to open a museum where it could be displayed. Conway founded Discount Labels in New Albany, and his collection includes pieces dating back to as far as 1756.

Just three months after opening a museum to showcase the collection off Mount Tabor Road, Conway died in 1999. According to some reports, Conway’s collection is valued as one of the five most prominent in the U.S.

Determined to keep the fire engines and equipment in New Albany, the group obtained a low interest loan to help toward the funding drive and was able to purchase the collection.

Last year, The New Albany Vintage Fire Museum and Education Center opened in the former Coyle Chevrolet building at 411 E. Spring St. The equipment is on display and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, and museum organizers have sought to extend the facility’s hours and invite school groups for tours.

But one problem lingers in that the building has yet to be purchased.

“Banks have been very good to work with, but we have to be able to make our mortgage payments,” said Curt Peters, chairman of the Friends of the New Albany Fire Museum board.

And the Coyle’s have also been very accommodating, he continued. They have reduced the asking price for the building by $225,000, bringing the total to $450,000.

While Peters wouldn’t confirm a specific deadline, he hinted that a decision on the building will likely need to be made soon. The desire of the board — which consists of 20 people all of whom have contributed financially to the museum — is to keep the facility and collection in downtown New Albany.

But if the funds can’t be raised to purchase the building, Peters said they would consider another location.

“We will not, by any stretch of the imagination, give up,” Peters said.

There’s plenty of reason to be optimistic, he continued. Multiple foundations and organizations have expressed interest in contributing or partnering with the museum, Peters said.

He added he recently spoke with Mayor Jeff Gahan about city involvement in the project. Peters said Gahan inferred his interest in the museum, but wanted to see some foundations step forward financially before the city considered any sort of partnership.

Part of the issue is that there are several foundations seemingly waiting to take part in the museum, but everyone is waiting for someone to go first, Peters said.

The board has established a $2.5 million fundraising goal, and has accrued about $800,000 of that total. Peters said the board and the Friends of the New Albany Fire Museum have already reached deep into their pockets and proven their commitment to the project.

“We have paid down our bank loan for buying the equipment from $413,000 to $110,000 in less than two years,” he said.

Fundraising initiatives are frequent for the museum, as a muster is set for Saturday and the annual chili-cookoff is slated for Nov. 15.

There’s been plenty of buzz from area, regional and national fire groups and organizations about the museum, Peters said. There’s also no questioning the quality of the building and location, he added.

The entire Coyle property has been cleared by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, or IDEM, for residential or commercial use aside for a small parking lot area, Peters said in an effort to dispel rumors that there’s contamination on the site.

The parking lot area in question has been cleared for commercial use, just not residential, he added.

Not to mention the more than 100 year-old building holds historical relevance as well and should also be saved, said David Barksdale, Floyd County Historian and museum board member.

“To me, this is larger, much bigger than a city museum or even a metro area museum,” he said. “I think this has national prominence.”

The facility could bring tourists to downtown New Albany to shop and dine at local retailers and eateries, Barksdale added.

In New Albany’s 2013 bicentennial year, Peters said the board would like to announce that the museum will be open six days a week. But in order to do that, he said it’s going to take support from the community to keep a treasured collection in New Albany.

“People can’t just wait and say, ‘well somebody else should do this,’” he said. “We need the good people of this community to come forward and step up.”

There are naming opportunities for the museum based on donations, and several levels of sponsorship available. For more information, call 502-599-2522, or visit the website www.vintagefiremuseum.org.