Museo Parque de Bombas facts for kids
|
|
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
| Established | 1990 |
|---|---|
| Location | Plaza Las Delicias, Ponce, Puerto Rico |
| Type | Firefighting museum |
| Collections | Equipment, Records, and Dispatch & Transportation |
| Visitors | 88,837 (2000) |
| Founder | Rafael Cordero Santiago |
| Owner | Autonomous Municipality of Ponce |
| Public transit access | SITRAS |
The Museo Parque de Bombas (Parque de Bombas Museum) is a special museum in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is located inside the historic Parque de Bombas building. This building is in the Ponce Historic Zone.
You can find this museum right behind the Ponce Cathedral in the Plaza Las Delicias town square. The building used to be the city's main fire station. It was even the first fire station ever in Puerto Rico! Because of its history and unique look, it is a very important building. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1943, all fire stations in Puerto Rico became part of a new government agency. This agency was called the Firemen Services of Puerto Rico. A new, bigger fire station was built in the 1960s, just one block from Parque de Bombas. This new station took over as the main firehouse. The old Parque de Bombas building then became more of a support office for firefighters.
After serving as a fire station for 108 years, the Parque de Bombas building became a museum in 1990. The museum shows the history of the Ponce firefighters. It tells the stories of the people and events that shaped their past. Mayor Rafael Cordero Santiago helped open the museum. Architect Pablo Ojeda O'Neill helped rebuild the building for its new museum purpose. The Museo Parque de Bombas is Ponce's most visited museum. It is also Puerto Rico's second most visited landmark, after Castillo El Morro. Over 100,000 people visit it each year!
Contents
History of the Firehouse
.jpg)
The building that holds the museum was built in 1881. It was first designed as the main exhibit hall for the 1882 Exhibition Trade Fair. A Spanish Army soldier named Lt. Colonel Maximo de Meana y Guridi was also a trained architect. He was asked to design and build the structure. The building was first shown during the 1882 Ponce Fair. People used it as the main pavilion for the fair. The first group of firemen started working in the building on February 2, 1883.
The fire station served the city of Ponce until 1990. This ended its 108 years as an active fire station. In 1990, the firefighting duties moved to the newer station nearby. The old building officially became a museum about firefighting. Pablo Ojeda O'Neill, a local museum expert, guided the restoration. The cost to turn the building into a museum was about US$140,000. Today, a photo of the 1883 firefighters hangs inside the museum.
In 1983, the station celebrated 100 years since a famous fire victory. The museum displays many items used by the 1882 fire brigade. Some of these items were used to fight the big "El Polvorín" fire in 1899. Even before it closed as a fire station, the building was a popular tourist spot. Sometimes, the firefighters would give free tours to visitors when they were not busy. The Ponce firefighters' museum is still known as Parque de Bombas. It is one of Ponce's most visited tourist attractions.
What You Can See: Museum Exhibitions
The museum has three main areas where you can see different exhibits. The Dispatch and Transportation Hall is on the first floor. The Equipment Hall and the Historical Records Hall are on the second floor.
Dispatch and Transportation Hall
This hall shows a small area where emergency calls were received. Firefighter officers would get calls and tell the firefighters what to do. Their sleeping areas were upstairs. You can see equipment used to fight fires in the 1800s and early 1900s. This includes some old pumps used to move water by hand. There is also an old firetruck from the early 1900s. Today, this old dispatch area is where visitors enter the museum.
Firefighting Equipment Hall
This hall is on the second floor of the museum. When the building was a firehouse, this area was part of the firefighters' sleeping quarters. Here, you can see original axes, picks, bells, and bugles. These were all used when the firehouse was active. There are also several firefighter uniforms, including their official Ponce Firefighters patch. You can also see their helmets and boots.
Historical Records Hall
This hall is also on the second floor, in what used to be more sleeping quarters for the firefighters. In this hall, the museum displays items related to the Ponce firefighters and how they were organized. You can see framed pictures that show the history of Ponce firefighters and some of the city's biggest fires. There are group photos of the firefighters. You can also see pictures of important people like Firefighters Band director Domingo Cruz ("Cocolía") and the firefighters' doctor, Dr. Rafael Pujals.
In 1820, two large fires hit the city of Ponce. One fire destroyed a big part of the city center. The other fire burned 80% of Ponce's port area. This stopped all trade in the southern part of Puerto Rico. This exhibit includes information about these two major fires.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Another important fire in this exhibit happened on January 25, 1899. This was a huge fire, later called "El Polvorín." It put the lives of people in Ponce at risk. It also threatened Puerto Rico's economy, as Ponce was a major banking and farming center. A painting in the museum shows the brave actions of seven firefighters and one civilian. They fought hard against the fire that started in the U.S. Army’s gunpowder storage. They disobeyed orders from the American troops who had recently taken control of Puerto Rico. Because of their courage, a disaster was avoided. For their success, the group was honored many times in Ponce and across Puerto Rico.
Near the Parque de Bombas, in Plaza Federico Degetau, there is an obelisk built to remember them. At the Cementerio Civil de Ponce (Ponce Civil Cemetery), a mausoleum was built in 1911. All seven heroes were later buried there. The Parque de Bombas building was later painted in Ponce's traditional city colors: red and black. Homes built a few years later for the firefighters and their families on 25 de Enero Street were also painted in these colors.
A sad event in the museum's history is the loss of an important document. During the 1975 restoration of Parque de Bombas, the original copy of the "Heroes de El Polvorín" Proclamation disappeared. This document, from 1906, declared the seven firefighters and one civilian as heroes.
See also
In Spanish: Museo Parque de Bombas para niños
- Monumento a los heroes de El Polvorín (obelisk)
- Monumento a los heroes de El Polvorín (mausoleum)
- Parque de Bombas
- Calle 25 de Enero
